In Trouble Once Again
by DarkestIllusions45
Summary: Sequel to In Trouble. Now settling down into the Mako Island Pod, Zac thought life was going to be easy for him. But when two new mysterious mermaids join the pod, along with an ancient prophecy stating the destruction of Mako Island and a mermaid hunting group active, he isn't out of the clearing just yet. Will he be able to overcome fate and save himself from being in trouble?
1. New beginnings, new friends

**Karen: And so... THE SEQUEL IS FINALLY HERE!**

**Cast of Mako Mermaids: Woohoo!**

**Sirena: You changed your name from Nexus to Karen?**

**Karen: Nexus was the old internet me, Karen is the new one ^_^**

**Nixie: So we left off with everyone starting their new lives, but did you really have to move me to America? It feels like you're pushing away my screen time...**

**Karen: Don't worry, I'm not pushing away your screen time. Your moving to America was what I call a strategic move on behalf of this team for the sequel**

**Nixie: As long as it pays off then fine by me**

**Zac: Who was that voice at the end of the story then?**

**Karen: Oh that voice... yeah... our villain, kind of obvious...**

**Zac: Great, you just had to give us another villain, first a Sea Demon, now... I don't know... care to give us any hints?**

**Karen: I'm not just going to flat out tell you! But I can say... actually I can't say anything yet, sorry**

**Zac: How about moving on with the first chapter instead of babbling then?!**

**Karen: Sorry! Right, here's chapter 1 of In Trouble Once Again**

* * *

Chapter 1: New Beginnings, new friends

Life was all well and good for everyone. It had been a week since Cam and Nixie had moved to California and during that time, not much happened. Sirena was on land with David and was even working a few shifts at the Ocean Cafe to keep up a little bit of her living. Lyla was living with Rita, just enjoying her general life, but now without any troubles. Zac and Evie had settled into the pod pretty well. Everyone was actually really nice to them, and Evie made one best friend, a mermaid called Coral who was going to be Evie's mermaid school teacher.

**- The morning of Zac's new job -**

"Zac? Zac? Come one Zac, wake up!" Evie said as she shook his shoulders, desperately trying to wake him up. Luckily, Zac eventually opened his eyes, stretched, and let out a massive yawn.

"Took you long enough," Evie complained as she swam away from him.

As for where they were, the moon pool held more than one secret. On the very bottom of it's floor was a strange silver mark. The silver mark was a door seal, one that could only be opened by merpeople of the Mako Island pod, Zac and Evie being taught the magic code for the seal. Mermaid Marks were very handy as they could be used for a various number of things. The Mako Island pod used one as a lock for a door that lead to a massive open room, filled with seaweed beds. The pod has gathered a lot seaweed and kelp and use their powers to turn them into beds that were surprisingly very comfy.

Zac leapt out of his bed and literally tackled Evie to the floor. "Morning," he said in a happy tone.

"Morning," Evie replied sounding a little pissed off. "Do you have really have to do that to me every morning?"

"Just trying to train your reflexes is all," he replied in return. He turned her body over and brought her in for their usual morning kiss.

"So, you have your first ever job today, don't you?" Evie asked.

"Yes I do, and you have your first ever day of mermaid school," Zac replied, pulling her up off of the floor. He created a white portal that would lead him straight to the mermaid council. "I'll try not to be gone too long. Just take care of yourself." He gave Evie one more hug before swimming through the portal, landing on his feet on the other side. This time though, the portal lead straight to the main room.

"Morning Zac," Seiger said cheerfully as he threw his hood down, Zac doing the same.

"Morning Grandad," Zac replied, with a smirk on his face.

"How many times have I told you to just call me Seiger you cheeky boy?" Seiger asked, a grin eventually appearing on his face. "Matter aside, you have your first ever job today."

The Higher Mermaid Council had quite a strange form to it. There was now a total of 32 merpeople in the HMC, Zac, Seiger and the other 30 mermaid including Maya and Aquata.

Seiger's job as the head of the Council was rather easy. He acts as a father to the mermaids, giving them advice on which jobs they should try to handle, unless of course the job was from Seiger directly. He himself never really went out beyond the confinement of the HMC, and never did any jobs for himself, he just took care of everyone else.

When I say jobs, there is usually a list of orders that come from the normal Mermaid Council below them. When matters are too large, they are sent to the HMC and the mermaid choose between them which jobs should be taken on by which mermaids. After all, each mermaid has roughly a different skill set. For example, Aquata and Maya are good at stealth like jobs as they can hold up their invisibility much longer. As for mermaids like Calypso and Star, they are more suited for jobs that include killing or catching people due to their combat skills and great stamina.

Seiger saw Zac as an all rounder, great in combat due to his number of powers and very good control over them, but also great at holding up invisibility and getting himself out of tight spots, as proven with the case of Joanna and the Sea Demon.

"And what is my first job going to be?" Zac asked excitedly.

"Nothing too tough for your first day here, we have two new mermaids joining our pod today, and it is your duty to show them around and also to make sure they have the magic code for the Silver Seal," Seiger explained. "That's all."

"That's it?" Zac asked, a little disappointed.

"I know, I know. You were expecting a bigger job than this. But this is an order from me. I'll make sure your next job is something from the Council below us."

Zac looked up at him and smiled. "So, who are these two new mermaids?"

"Their names are Tanya and Isis, they moved out from their previous pods because we, the HMC, just recruited them," Seiger explained.

"Hang on, do they really have to move out here? Couldn't they just create a portal over here?" Zac asked.

"Sorry Zac. The HMC is situated here in Australia and the portals can only travel as far as the ocean around us, no other place in the world has a close enough access. Mermaids originally all came from here until the world expanded, so naturally the HMC was built here."

"Even so, wow powerful are these mermaids then?" Zac asked in wonder. If these two were recruited by the HMC, they must be something.

"Tanya is a powerhouse, incredibly skilled in all of her mermaid arts. She comes from a Russian Pod, the only pod known to have Ice magic, much like you, but they are not mermen. They use this to their advantage and are rather used to the cold, I think she'll be very handy for some of our long distance missions. As for Isis, she comes from a British Pod, a pod that also had one unique skills. Much like Tanya having Ice Magic, this pod is home to Thunder/ Lightning Magic, as well as being incredibly skilled in the art of storms and weather, why do you think they have such terrible weather over there? Because of their pod, practising."

Zac was taken back by the info Seiger gave him. Two mermaids with unique powers that were supposedly only possessed by mermen, and yet two pods hosted mermaids with these powers. And to think, one of them was the reason that Britain had such crap weather. "Is Tanya's pod the same reason why parts of Russia are so cold and get a lot of snow?" Zac asked, his voice crackling.

"Yep, right on the money," Seiger replied, grinning.

"Man, they must really be something," Zac said to himself.

"They'll be arriving at the Ocean Cafe at 10am. If you are wondering why we picked a land location, it's because these two mermaids are like you, they are very used to the land. Also, all members of the HMC are required to have legs, as you can see, so that we can handle missions on land. I want you to give them a

little tour of your home area and then show them the direct route here to Mako Island. Make sure to teach them the Silver Seal code, and bring them back here once you are done touring." Seiger created a white portal next to him. "It leads out to the shore of Mako, you'll know where to go from there."

Zac smiled and walked through the portal, instantly running for the ocean once he was on the beach, diving into the water.

* * *

**- At the same time in the Moon pool -**

Five mermaids in total were in the Moon Pool. There was Evie and her teacher Coral, as well as three other students. Felicia, Julia and Leila.

"Morning my class, welcome to your first day of mermaid school," Coral said as she waved to each of her students. She was a very lively mermaid, with blonde hair that was not much longer than Lyla's hair. She had blue eyes and very full pink lips and had two small starfish like earrings. All in all, she was a very pretty mermaid. "For your first lesson, we will be studying the basics of your water powers."

Coral began with a demonstration of the three main powers. She created a snake of water and began sending it all around the Moon Pool. Right when it had reached the volcano's peak, she changed her power and froze the water solid.

"Water is indeed in the essence of our spirits. It has the mystical power to heal, and yet also to cause damage. You must learn to control your powers so you can filter between its two forms. It has one more purpose and nature though, and that, is beauty." As she said the last word, she turned her hand very sharply and clenched her fist, the ice exploding into small crystals, falling like snow back into the water. She very quickly created the snake of water again but this time held it in the air and boiled it, steam rising out of the volcano as the water evaporated.

"Now, copy exactly what I do and your powers should do the same." Coral held her hand out flat towards the water. As she raised it up into the air, a pillar of water followed. The four mermaids copied her hand movement, all of them very happy when the same pillars of water were created as well.

Coral then pulled her hand back before giving it a push towards the water, freezing her pillar. The four students copied her, the same result happening.

"And now, the beauty." She twisted her hand and clenched it, her pillar exploding into millions of tiny crystals again. As for what happened when the other four did the same, the results were rather different. Felicia, Julia and Leila managed to explode their pillars, but Evie had set her pillar on fire, the ice surprisingly not melting.

"That wasn't supposed to happen was it?" Evie asked in shock as she looked at the burning flames.

Coral very quickly doused the pillar with water, the flames dying out. She finished off by exploding the pillar. Coral couldn't believe it, one of her students carried blood from a elemental mermaid, and from an supposedly non-existent one.

"Evie, I must know, who was your mother?" Coral asked seriously.

"I- I don't know. I was told she died giving birth to me," Evie replied sheepishly.

"Coral, why was Evie's pillar set on fire?" Leila asked shyly. Leila was almost the spitting image of Coral, a good reason being that she was Coral's younger sister. The only difference, was that Leila's hair was almost dip-dyed aqua blue at the ends.

"I'd like to know why myself Leila," she replied. "Did your father ever tell you your mother's name?"

"Yes, she was called Lucy, but my father told me her real name was Lacrima, and that Lucy was what she preferred to be called by." Evie remembered.

"'The' Lacrima!?" Felicia asked excitedly. Felicia has long bright red hair, almost the same colour as fire, with a pair of eyes the same colour to match. She is also highly intelligent and has a vast knowledge of mermaid history. When she was a little older, she would most definitely be joining the HMC.

"Felicia?" Coral turned to her, her face practically asking for more info.

"A long time ago, back before the existence of mermen came around, there were four mermaids who possessed elemental powers. There was Elicia of Lightning, Marina of Ice, Aria of Air, and Lacrima of Fire. Each of these four mermaids owned a pod and taught them alone the secret to each of their elemental powers. The four pods are from England, Russia, America and Egypt, running in that order. When the leader died, their soul didn't die with them. The soul was then transferred to a newly born mermaid and they were given the same name. This way, the four elemental mermaids lived on. Marina, Aria and Elicia are still alive but Lacrima is a different story. Her pod was unfortunate because of the time Lacrima's soul needed to be transferred. There were no newborn mermaids in their pod at the time, so they had to safeguard the soul until one was born. Sadly, another mermaid pod in Egypt wanted their powers and attempted to steal Lacrima's soul for themselves. During their battle, Lacrima's soul was destroyed by the opposing pot once they saw that they would not be able to get their hands on it. Since then, fire magic should have died out amongst mermaids since Lacrima was the only one who could teach it to other mermaids," Felicia explained.

"But it still doesn't explain why Evie has fire magic," Julia pointed out. Julia had medium length electric blue hair that almost faded in with the water and had a pair of Ocean blue eyes. Julia was a rather blunt mermaid, not good with emotions but she's a wonderful peace maker and organiser.

"Give me a break. I may know a lot about mermaid history, but the info that I have won't explain the current situation," Felicia fought back.

"Sorry," Julia replied plainly. "Coral, I think you should take Evie to see Seiger about this. He needs to know."

Coral created a white portal behind her. "Julia's right, the lesson is held off for today. Evie, come with me."

Evie happily followed Coral through the white portal, landing on the other side in front of the white door with Coral.

Coral knocked on the door, Seiger asking, "Yes? Who is it?"

"Master, it's Coral. I have urgent news for you."

The gates opened up, Evie and Coral walking through to greet Seiger, hood down. Coral took hers down, followed by Evie.

"Well, what's so urgent?" Seiger asked impatiently.

"During mermaid school, we discovered something rather shocking," Coral said, leaving Seiger on the edge. "Could you create some water for us?"

"Okay," Seiger said slowly. Even though Seiger didn't use his magic much, it was quite spectacular. He could create water out of thin air, something that Zac had yet to learn. He created a small ball in front of the pair.

Coral yet again demonstrated her powers, creating a pillar of water, freezing it, and then exploding it.

"Your point?" Seiger asked disappointedly.

"When pretty much every mermaid I've ever taught has done this, the result has always been the same. Evie is a different case," Coral replied, gather the crystals of ice back into the ball of water. "Show him."

Evie did exactly what she did in training, creating the pillar of ice. She was reluctant for a second to twist her hand, wondering if the same result would happen. As before, the pillar was set on fire, the ice still not melting.

"No way," Seiger said in disbelief, as he doused the ice pillar and exploded it himself.

"I couldn't believe it myself at first. I asked Felicia for some information on elemental mermaids, learning that the fire mermaid was called Lacrima, a mermaid with the same name as Evie's mother," Coral explained.

The name struck a nerve for Seiger. "I was hoping that it wasn't true. Lacrima's soul was torn apart so there should be no way for her to be alive. And yet, your mother Evie, shared the same name, and no-one is allowed to call a mermaid Lacrima unless the mermaid contains her soul. It just doesn't make any sense!"

* * *

**- Meanwhile, on land - **

Zac walked through the doors of the Ocean Cafe, getting a happy greeting from the staff behind the bar.

"Zac!" Sirena and David greeted happily.

"Hey, if it isn't my favourite couple," Zac replied, giving handshakes to his friends.

"What you brings you here?" Sirena asked. "You never usually come to this place any more."

"Work," Zac replied plainly. "Seiger sent me here to greet two new member of the HMC, they'll be arriving at 10."

"They must be strong if they're joining the Council, what are their names?" David questioned.

"Isis and Tanya. Isis is from Britain whereas Tanya is from Russia," Zac replied. "As to how I know who they are, Isis has a sharp triangular scar over her right eye where as Isis has a lightning bolt scar over hers."

"Huh? That's, different," Sirena pointed out.

"I don't have time to explain their back stories but I promise I'll explain it to you soon," Zac promised. He turned around to go take a seat at a table, just as two unfamiliar women walked through the door.

"We're looking for Zac Blakely, anyone know who he is?" One of the women asked.

Zac shyly raised his hand up, catching their attention.

"Aha, just the man we're looking for," the other woman said excitedly.

* * *

**Karen: And done!**

**Seiger: Thanks for actually establishing some ground rules, things didn't make too much sense in the last chapter of In Trouble**

**Karen: That's why this chapter ties some loose ends up, and also introduced a small start for out story**

**Evie: I... set a pillar of ice- on fire, and it didn't melt... what the hell have you done to me!?**

**Karen: Just giving you a decent focus in this story is all, you know, since you had barely any focus in the last one...**

**Evie: Well thank you**

**Karen: I don't know when Chapter 2 will be out, but I'll try my best to get it out quicker than I usually do! Love y'all!**


	2. Tanya and Isis

**Karen: I'm back! Thank you to anyone who's reviewed, faved, followed and all that stuff so far. And another big thank you to PaperGirlInAPaperTown for the lovely review and amazing talks in PM. She really is lovely :3**

**Tanya: Glad to see you found someone to talk with about everything**

**Isis: And as nice as it is, we should really get along with Chapter 2, so here it is**

**Karen: That's my line!**

* * *

Chapter 2: Tanya and Isis

"We're looking for Zac Blakely, anyone know who he is?" One of the women asked, in a slight Russian accent.

Zac shyly raised his hand up, catching their attention.

"Aha, just the man we're looking for," the other woman said excitedly, her voice being more British.

Zac looked over the two women. The first woman was almost as tall as he was, wearing a red vest top with gold/ brown armbands and brown fingerless gloves, along with a pair of red jeans that had swirly patterns in gold down the sides of them. On her feet, were a pair of brown sandals, and most importantly, an triangular scar over her right eye, almost like the shape on an icicle. Her eyes were two different colours, one being red, the other being white like ice and her hair was a very light bleach blonde colour, very short with bangs coming across from the right, almost covering her left eye.

The other woman was a bit shorter than the first, adorning an electric blue vest top with black/ white armbands but had no fingerless gloves. Her lower half was a skirt a shade darker than her top, and fell midway down to her knees. She hand nothing else on her legs and also wore a pair of sandals, but they were black. She had two different coloured eyes as well, one was a light blue whilst the other was gold, and her hair was surprisingly pitch black with streaks of blue appearing throughout it, the length of it being about down to her butt. As for her right eye, there was a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt running down it.

He suddenly realised who these two were. "Let me guess, Tanya and Isis, right?"

Isis smiled at him. "Clever boy aren't you?"

"Not really, Seiger just told me that you two were easily recognisable by your scars is all," Zac admitted.

"Zac? Who are these two?" David asked confused.

"Sorry. This is Isis," he said gesturing towards the black haired female with the lightning bolt scar. "And this is Tanya." Gesturing towards the other woman.

"Nice to meet you David," Isis greeted with a smile.

"Nice to meet you too," David replied slowly. "And the scars? Any story behind them?"

"We can't talk here," Zac said quietly. "I need to take these guys on a tour around land and the HMC, but if you come to the Moon Pool tonight, everything will be explained," he promised.

"Tour? Did Seiger really ask you to show us around here?" Isis asked.

"Just a few basic things like this place, which is the Ocean Cafe, If we ever come on land, we usually meet up here," Zac explained.

"The other places then?" Tanya prompted.

"Uh yeah, let's go," Zac replied, leading the two females out the door, waving to Sirena and David on the way out.

"Looks like he's got his hands full hasn't he?" Sirena noticed.

"Looks like he has indeed. And we do as well, two Watermelon and Lime Frappé's for table 6," David ordered

"And one for me," Sirena added, winking. She just couldn't resist it any longer.

* * *

**- On the path to Rita's house -**

Zac had shown Tanya and Isis Suncoast High, his house and introduced the pair to his parents, just as a note. Currently, they were headed towards Rita's place.

"So, where are we going to now then?" Tanya asked.

"To a good friends house. Principal of Suncoast High, Rita Santos," Zac replied.

"Is this Rita a me-" Isis began to say before Zac quickly silenced her. The reason being that a male was passing them.

"Shhh. There are people around here you know. We don't need anyone knowing about her or us," Zac explained in a whisper.

"Oh right, sorry!" Isis apologised in the same whispering tone.

Carrying on up the path, the male who passed them stopped to look back them.

"Looks like the IMH will be happy today," he said to himself. He then turned around and carried on down the path.

Rita had given Zac a key to her house, just in case he might of needed it in some strange instance. He opened the door and let the two mermaids in.

"Woah, this place is beautiful," Tanya admired as she looked around. "It could use some more red and yellow but each to their own opinion."

Zac smiled and began heading off towards Rita's bookcase, the two girls following him.

"And we're by a bookcase because?" Isis asked impatiently.

"This is important. You see that book there?" He replied, pointing towards the book with the word mermaid on it.

"Humans have books about us?" Tanya asked as she went to pull the book out to read it, only to find that the book didn't come out of the shelf, but made the whole bookcase slide to the side, revealing the stone wall.

"After you," Zac insisted. Tanya lead the way whilst Isis followed behind her, Zac staying behind to make sure that the bookcase closed. The girls were in marvel at the lovely stone stairs and the lights that lit their way. Tanya stopped once she noticed that part of the wall was missing, an opening as it were. She curiously walked inside of it, speechless when she saw all the treasures within the Grotto. She stepped to the side so that Zac and Isis could get in as well.

"Welcome, to Rita's Grotto," Zac introduced as he walked down the steps to greet Poseidon.

"Hey Poseidon," Zac said in a friendly voice as he let the cat jump onto his shoulder, the cat giving him a friendly head rub and brief meow in return.

"A Cat?" Isis asked curiously, wondering why it hadn't hurt Zac yet.

"This is Poseidon, Rita's cat, he won't bite," Zac replied. He slowly walked over to Tanya and Isis with him, neither of the two mermaids flinching.

"Pretty much every other mermaid I've met except Rita, were all scared of Poseidon, but you two seem to be fine around him," Zac noticed.

"We've been on land a lot in our respective countries, we're used to them, and this one is so cute," Isis cooed as she fussed him, Poseidon purring away.

He eventually hopped down and went back to sleeping on top of Rita's chest where she kept her Moon Ring.

"This is where Rita used to train us whilst we were on land, but you can come here whenever want, especially if you need a rare mermaid item, Rita most likely has it," Zac explained.

He began walking back out of the entrance and carried on down the rest of the stairs, the girls following.

"I smell sea water," Isis said.

"Here's why," Zac replied as he stood along of the edge of the exit to the Ocean. "This tunnel leads directly out into the Ocean, and if we head strait, we'll hit Mako Islands shore."

Tanya immediately dived into the water, followed by Isis, and then Zac.

"Lead the way," Tanya said plainly, watching as Zac dove under the water and began heading out of the tunnel.

"It's been a long time since we've seen a merman isn't it?" Isis said as he watched him swim out.

"And a cute one at that," Tanya replied blushing.

"You like him?" Isis asked surprised.

"Oh come on, he's cute and you know it," Tanya replied, diving down and following Zac out.

"Honestly," Isis said to herself as she began following them.

Their tails weren't the same colour as most other mermaids. Tanya's tail was predominantly red with flecks of gold scattered around it whilst Isis's tail was more of a storm blue colour with flecks of black scattered on it. Elemental mermaids usually had tails to represent their elements but Isis and Tanya's were more or so suited towards themselves.

The three of them were all very silent on the way to Mako Island. Once they could see a shore line, Zac suddenly turned left and began heading around the back of the Island, Isis and Tanya following. They soon reached the opening to the Moon Pool and swam up into it, the two girls gazing around, looking up at the volcano's peak.

"This Moon Pool is situated in a Volcano?" Tanya asked in shock.

"It's been dormant for so many years, and there's no lava or anything so it's 100% safe. The only other thing I have to do is teach you the code for our sleeping quarters," Zac replied, ducking below the water.

"He swam down to the bottom of the Moon Pool and found the silver mark. "You'll just need to hold a hand out." Isis held out her right whilst Tanya held out her left.

Zac began chanting in a strange language that neither of the two mermaid recognised, and noticed that his body had naturally entered Overdrive state, the strange fin like ears returning along with the golden glow and gold eyes. Silver light engulfed his hands as he placed them on top of the girls hands, the silver light transferring into them. He chanted three final words. "Eldura Heischia Lantura," as the Overdrive state then wore off, Zac returning to normal.

"Great, so all you have to do is place the hand I transferred the light to on the seal, and the door will open. There will be time to test it out later though, we have a Seiger to go talk to," Zac explained as he created a white portal for the three of them to head through.

Once they were on the other side, Seiger took his hood down, the group of three doing the same.

"Ah, Tanya and Isis, nice to meet you at long last," Seiger greeted with a bow.

"Nice to meet you too," Isis replied happily.

"Likewise," Tanya replied as she did a little bow as well.

"Well done Zac, I'd say that was a job well done. But before you leave, there is something important that we could use you to for," Seiger said, motioning towards Tanya and Isis.

"Something interesting happened during Evie's first mermaid school lesson. I presume you two remember your friend Lacrima? Elicia and Marina?"

* * *

**- Meanwhile, in a unknown location -**

"Guys, I've got some good news for you!" A man shouted as he headed down a short staircase.

"What is it now Lucas?" Another man asked.

"You'll never believe who I just saw today," Lucas teased. Remember the man who stopped down the path on the way to Rita's, that was Lucas. He was a short blonde haired male, surely no older than 25, with dark brown eyes, and a hell of a lot of scars on his body, and one tattoo on his back which wasn't visible, but it was the letters IMH in a very bold sharp font, with two harpoons either side of it.

"Just spill it already!" A woman shouted.

"Jeez, sorry. Well, I won't tell you flat out, but there were two women, one of whom nearly said the M word," Lucas explained breifly.

"Are you sure they nearly said mermaid?" Richard asked in shock.

"No doubt about it. Besides, they were headed towards Santos's place and they had two rather unusual scars on their face," Lucas replied.

"Elemental mermaids," the female voice said plainly.

"It's been weeks since we've had any interesting news on mermaids, looks like our Sea Demon didn't do us much good after all," Richard said with a sour tone. "But it looks like our luck is about to change."

"Not just that, but they were with a guy as well, who told the girl who nearly said mermaid to be quiet. I'd take bets any day that he was a merman," Lucas added.

"Think it's the same one?" The female voice asked.

"Most likely, there aren't that many out there any more," Richard wondered. "Even so, you should be happy. Looks like you'll need to go back to the HMC for a while, Felicity."

* * *

**Karen: Sorry if it seemed kinda short, there was just a lot more to establish this chapter.**

**Isis: The next chapter should explain pretty much everything that happened in this chapter, including me, Tanya, and that brief section at the end.**

**Karen: It shouldn't take too long for me to get it out so you're all in luck for once. See ya soon! xxx**


	3. Explanations

**Karen: Hello people of the internet. I'm back! And I bring Chapter 3 with me!**

**Felicity: You have got a lot of explaining to do missy**

**Karen: Yes, yes I do. And all your questions from the last chapter will hopefully be answered today. Also, if you remember in chapter 1, there was a mermaid named Felicity, she was actually called Felicia, I messed up! I changed it so this Felicity here is a completely new character to you all. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 3: Explanations

**- That strange unknown location -**

"Looks like you'll need to go back to the HMC for a while, Felicity."

The woman who was hiding stepped out of the shadows. She had incredibly long deep red hair, which was tied back a bit into a long ponytail and had two small swords crossed through the top. Her fringe completely covered her left eye, no-one had ever seen the colour of it. Her right eye though was the same deep red as her hair. She was practically wearing a replica of her mermaid top and a pair of black jean shorts, but nothing on her feet. She had various scars on her body, ranging from small cuts on her arms to a massive gash like scar on her back.

"Remind me again, why I even help scum like you?" Felicity asked, a clear sign of anger in her voice.

"Oh my dear Felicity, if you'd have killed us back then, you wouldn't be in this mess right now would you?" Richard replied. "And now that you can't use your magic on us, along with us being in possession of a mind control drug and some of that memory changing powder, I'm afraid you have no choice in the matter."

"So to answer in short, you help 'scum' like us because we force you too, and it won't be long before you fall, along with all your little mermaid friends," Lucas laughed, causing Felicity to rage.

"How dare you!" She screamed as she took a lunge towards him.

"Not so fast there girl," Lucas said waving his fingers. Clicking them, a barrier appeared around him which Felicity ran head on into, receiving a full on electrical shock when she hit it. She fell backwards onto the floor, writhing in pain.

"If you're so intent on having me fall, then why keep me alive? You've had so many chances to kill me!" Felicity asked in ragged breathes.

"You know perfectly well why. We need you alive as our little infiltrator into the Higher Mermaid Council, gather information and report to our leader on what to do next. It's not our fault she still needs you alive is it?"

"I thinks it's time we stop wasting our time and get you back on track to the HMC," Richard said as he dragged Felicity's partly unconscious body across the room. He reached out for two small vials on a nearby shelf. One was memory changing powder whilst the other was a watching powder. Watching powder when sprinkled on someone allows the caster to see everything from their eyes and hear everything they hear.

Richard first sprinkled a little bit of memory changing powder on her. "Erase all manner of our recent conversation and replace it with Felicity just completing her last mission successfully, leading her to head back to the HMC." As that powder sunk in, he quickly sprinkled watching powder over her, that powder seeping into her body with the memory changing powder. Once settled in, a little nearby screen appeared, showing what Felicity could see.

"Very good my dear. Now, leave this place and start heading back to the HMC," Richard ordered, his own voice being heard over the nearby speakers from the watching powder.

Felicity's body stood up and began walking out of her unknown location, eventually leading her to a beach.

Back in that location, Richard pressed a button which made Felicity jump, returning control of her body back to herself.

"Right, back to the Council, another mission completed!" She said happily to herself as she created a white portal to the HMC. It would be a bit of a long journey from where she was.

* * *

**- Back at the Higher Mermaid Council -**

Zac, Seiger, Eevee, Tanya, Isis and Coral were all sat around a rather large white table that Seiger brought in for them.

"From the sounds of it, Isis and Tanya, you two have got a lot of explaining to do," Coral began.

They both looked at each other, nodding their heads. "We weren't exactly honest when we talked to Seiger about being recruited here. Seems you eventually figured it out though," Isis said, motioning towards Seiger.

"I didn't expect you two to have the souls of Elicia and Marina within you, I'll admit that much," Seiger replied.

The four bantered along for a while, Evie and Zac bored out of their minds with having no idea what they were talking about, sitting there almost at the point of pointless drooling and glazed eyes. Zac eventually decided to speak up.

"Could someone actually tell us what the hell is going on here!? What's the story behind Evie's sudden fire magic, and just who are Lacrima, Elicia and Marina?" He asked rather loudly.

The four suddenly stopped and looked at the not happy faced Zac. "Sorry about that," Tanya apologised.

"A very long time ago, before mermen came into existence, there were four very special pods of mermaids and four very special leaders. The four pods were hosts to elemental magic, fire, air, ice and lightning. Each pods leader was a strong and confident mermaid with a special soul. When they died, their soul would leave their bodies and return to the hands of the pod, kept safe until the soul could be transferred into a newborn mermaid. This way, the four mermaids lived on and on, the only thing distinguishing them from other mermaids, was a scar in the shape of their magic going down their right eyes. I didn't realise it until after I recruited Isis and Tanya that they were really two of the original elemental mermaids," Seiger began to explain, Coral taking over for him.

"As for who these four are and where their pods are, there's Elicia of Lightning from England, Marina of Ice from Russia, Aria of Air from America and Lacrima of Fire from Egypt. Each leader would teach their pod their respective elemental powers, but only one of four original elemental's could teach it. Other mermaids tried but it just didn't work. The four have lived for a long time, but Lacrima ran into troubles. She died unexpectedly and the pod had no newborn mermaids for her soul. They had to keep it under lock and key, and protect her soul until it could be transferred. Sadly, another pod in Egypt overheard that Lacrima's soul was out in the open, and staged an attack to take it for themselves. After learning that they weren't going to win, they destroyed her soul instead, so that no mermaid alive would ever learn fire magic again. Eventually, fire magic mermaids died out, the pod disbanded and everyone went their own separate ways. But nothing that we have can explain why Evie has fire magic!"

"Worse, remember how Evie's mother was called Lucy?" Seiger asked the whole table, a general nod coming from Zac, Evie, Coral and an eventual nod from Tanya and Isis. "We've learnt her real name. Lacrima."

It came as quite a shock to Zac and the two new mermaids. "But you said that Lacrima's soul was destroyed, didn't you?" Zac questioned.

"We should know, we knew Lacrima in the old days very well," Tanya replied. "But Seiger is right, nothing makes sense here. Lacrima was destroyed but her mother shared a name, was a mermaid, and most of all, Evie has fire magic, only something that could be taught, or passed onto by children of her own."

"There's nothing we can do about it though," Isis spoke up. "We just have to live with the fact that Evie might be the last mermaid alive to have fire magic."

Everyone seemed to agree. "So, is fire magic bad or something?" Evie asked, a little scared by the whole situation.

"There's nothing wrong with it, you'll just need to learn how to control it," Coral replied, trying to comfort her, then looking over to Seiger, hoping that he would have an idea to help.

"Well, Zac has fire magic of his own and can control it pretty well. Therefore, Zac, your ongoing mission is to teach in mermaid school," Seiger ordered.

"I'm sorry, ongoing mission?" He asked confused.

"It just means it's a mission you'll be doing whilst doing other things. And getting her to control it will take some time, you'll need to attend all her mermaid school lessons and teach her the ways of fire magic," Seiger explained.

"Right, besides that, anything else we need to talk about?" Zac asked, looking at everyone around the table.

"There is something else you need to talk about," a voice could be heard saying. Zac turned around to see and unfamiliar council member standing behind him. She wasn't wearing the same clothing as every other council member, it was Felicity. Although she had a long flowing white cape with her hood down, she was pretty much wearing what she was wearing earlier, the only difference being that her mermaid top was now white.

"Ah Felicity, you're finally back," Seiger stated. "Mission in Perth go as planned?"

"Hang on, who's she?" Zac butted in.

"This is Felicity, the most highly ranked mermaid in the entire of the Higher Council. I'd say her power rivals yours right now. But back to your mission," he replied, then motioning to Felicity.

"Yeah, I managed to find another one of the IMH's locations. No-one was there though, yet again," she explained. She grabbed a chair and took a seat at the table, in the gap between Isis and Tanya. "But let's not dwell on that for now. I've been gone for a while so bring me up to speed." She glanced around the four unfamiliar faces at the table. "Who is she?" she asked pointing to Evie and moved onto Zac, "furthermore, who is he?" She then crossed her arms, pointing fingers at Isis and Tanya, "and who are these two here?" She was rather blunt in her questioning, though in all fairness she was pretty tired from her mission.

* * *

"I see, and you two are positive that here soul was torn apart and destroyed?" Felicity asked, checking this with Isis and Tanya. They'd gone through all their introductions to each other, including the Sea Demon incident and brought Felicity up to speed on the whole Evie having fire magic situation.

Tanya and Isis looked at each other yet again. "We can't be 100% positive since we weren't there during he fight," Tanya mentioned. "But a ceremony was held where the last parts of her soul were destroyed for good. But there's no way anyone could have absorbed any part of her soul, there were no newborns at that fight, and there were none in that pod at the time."

"Right, you weren't kidding when you said nothing makes sense. But as there's nothing we can do about it, I think it's time we talk about the IMH," Felicity offered, everyone agreeing to talk about it.

"First and foremost, the IMH are what you could call our mortal enemies of the land world," Seiger began. "IMH, stands for International Mermaid Hunter."

Zac and Evie were rather taken back by that name.

"As their name suggest, they hunt mermaids and their sole purpose is to exterminate every last one of us," Felicity said, taking over. "They have bases all over the world, 3 here in Australia. One in Perth, which I recently discovered, one in Melbourne and the other not too far from the Gold Coast, but there is no sign of activity or life in that base at all. As for other locations in the world, they have bases in pretty much every country, yet, they only have one in America."

"Out of questioning, do you know where the one in America is?" Zac asked feeling slightly worried on the inside.

"I do, but why do you ask?"

"Well, we have a friend, a mermaid, who recently moved out to America," Zac said, trying to keep his words short.

"The base is in California," she replied bluntly, Zac and Evie's faces dropping yet again.

"Of all places," Evie said in a low tone.

"You have got to be kidding me? There are tonnes of locations in America and yet she ended up in California?!" Felicity asked, unable to believe it all. "This is bad. The base over there is more active and your friend might not be safe. There's a pretty good chance of her being okay though since they don't cover the whole of it, as long as she doesn't live near any kind of beach or mass of water, she'll be fine."

Zac would have to call Cam and check up on where exactly they were staying, just to keep them safe.

"For now though, let's take a break and talk about this tomorrow. We've been through a lot today. I'd like to do some research tomorrow in private so I maybe suggest you take this opportunity to return to land for the day, and enjoy yourselves.

Zac and Evie grinned widely. They couldn't wait to get back on land again, and for a whole day. They could finally catch up with Lyla and Rita, after all, they would be seeing David and Sirena tonight at the Moon Pool. They could always arrange something for the day, heck, Tanya and Isis could come with.

"Well, tomorrow is David's birthday," Zac pointed out.

"A friend of yours?" Isis asked excitedly.

"Not just a friend, he's also a merman, natural born, you'll be meeting him later, David," Zac explained.

"The boy from the Cafe we met in this morning?" Tanya asked curiously. "I never would have guessed in a million years. Natural born too."

"Even so, what are you doing to do for his birthday?" Isis questioned.

"Maybe a party would cheer us all up?" Evie suggested.

* * *

**- Later that night, in the Moon Pool -**

David and Sirena had introduced themselves to Isis and Tanya, and the six friends had a long conversation about everything that had happened.

"So, what about the party then?" Isis asked impatiently.

"Party?" David asked confused. "Are we going to throw one because it's my birthday?"

"Yeah, come one, you've got to celebrate your birthday, another year of successful living," Isis replied. "Think of it as a well done treat to yourself." She may have had an odd way of explaining things but she was never really wrong.

David looked up and her and smiled. "I don't see why we can't throw one together."

Isis cheered and gave David a quick hug. "Woohoo! Our first party huh Tanya?"

"Yes, it will be," she replied plainly. She didn't want to show it, but she was rather looking forward to a party. She'd never really been to one before, and now she was.

"What if we hire another band and Sirena can sing for them?" Evie suggested.

David and Evie turned their heads to Sirena, waiting for an answer.

"I don't see why not," she eventually said giving in, then leaning in for a cuddle with David. "We'd better go back and make preparations then, night guys."

"Night night," they all replied, Sirena diving and leaving first, David following her. If he left first, he'd have no clue of have to get back since his sense of direction wasn't brilliant.

* * *

**- Back in that unknown location -**

Since Felicity had been listening in on their conversation so that he could tell Seiger what they were doing, Richard and Lucas got word of everything.

"A party huh? Sounds like the perfect opportunity to take our task to the next level," Richard said to himself, even though Lucas was right next to him. "Lucas, I want you to go that party, and carry out your part of the plan."

Lucas looked at him confused, and then realised exactly what Richard meant. "Oh I see. In the middle of the party, they'd be helpless wouldn't they?"

"They would, except for Zac Blakely. Don't try it on him, he can overcome it remember?" Richard reminded him.

"Oh yeah, how about that Isis chick then?" Lucas suggested. "I mean, she's really cute as well."

Richard gave him a bonk on the head. "She's the enemy, you've got no time to be falling in love with her. After all, she's a mermaid, our sworn enemy."

Lucas sighed. "Yeah."

Richard began walking away from him, heading off to bed for the night. "That's right, our sworn enemy. They tried to take us out before, but we'll rise again. Mark my words, we will rise against them!"

* * *

**- The next day -**

David's party was in full swing. They managed to hire a local band to perform with Sirena and she was enjoying every second of it. She'd missed the huge crowd listening to her sing, a feeling she hadn't felt in a long time, not since the times when she sung with Aquata in front of the pod. David had managed to get Joe to cover working on the main bar, and also roped in some of his mates to take care of catering for the party.

Isis was enjoying herself, sitting down at the bar. She was about to get up and join Tanya and her friends across the room. But as she stood up, she bumped into someone.

"Oh god, are you okay?" The man asked, picking up his glass that had fallen on the floor.

Isis stood their, completely scared out of her mind in the situation she was in. A glass of water had just been spilt onto her legs and where she was right now, there was nowhere to go, she was surrounded by lots of people.

"Miss?" The man asked again as he stared at Isis.

_*Please, if there is a god out there, don't let my tail appear! I know it's impossible but I've got no choice in this situation. If someone can hear me, please, don't let my tail grow. Please!* _She cried out in her head, her body unable to move, knowing that in another few seconds, her tail would appear and it would be all over. No-one could help her, they weren't nearby and helping her would seem suspicious, but it seemed like no-one noticed Isis by the bar.

Isis closed her eyes and prepared for the worst, the man who had splashed her letting a small grin grow on his face, like he was anticipating the moment.

___*Please, no tail!*_

* * *

**Karen: Well, hope that this chapter tied up most of the loose ends from the last chapter. We now know a little more about Isis, Tanya, Felicity, Richard and Lucas. **

**Lucas: You seriously made us International Mermaid Hunters?**

**Karen: Why not? After all, you'll find yourselves a little more vital to the story than you think you are. I don't know when the next chapter will be up but it might be a while, and there will be some action. It's like the last story, chapter 4 is where it all goes boom! **


	4. Of parties and prophecies

**Karen: I'm back! And I bring a slightly longer chapter this time!**

**Isis: I don't care how long it is! You just had me splashed with water in the middle of a party with loads of people around me, and no help from anyone! I can't even use my powers in this case!**

**Karen: Sorry but it's something that had to be done. Usually everything is done for a reason around here. Enough dwelling though, let's get down to business!**

* * *

Chapter 4: Of parties and prophecies

_*Please, no tail!* _Isis screamed in her head waiting for the inevitable to happen. She was even counting in her head, 8, 9, 10...

And yet...

Nothing.

Isis still stood on the spot like a frightened deer in headlights, her brain unable to comprehend the fact that she had just been splashed with water and her tail hadn't appeared.

"Um miss, you sure you're okay?" The man asked one more time, sounding rather confused himself.

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine. You just caught me off guard is all and it came as a bit of a shock to me," she eventually replied to him. She grabbed a cloth from the counter and dried off the water from her legs. Placing the cloth back where it was, she moved her way over to Tanya and company, the six of them just staring at her, like something bad had happened.

"Isis, is everything okay?" Tanya asked worried, looking at her friends still frightened face.

She didn't respond for a few seconds.

"I'm fine. Zac, can we talk outside for a minute?" She asked shyly. Zac and David were the only two in the group who could be splashed and not grow their tails, but Zac knew more about his magic."

"Sure," he replied slowly, making his way through the crowd and exiting out the front door with Isis.

Lyla didn't seem all too happy about Zac being taken away outside, almost glaring at Isis as she walked behind him, her behaviour not going unnoticed by Evie.

"What happened over there?" He asked curiously.

Isis took a moment before she told him what happened. "My legs were splashed with water, this guy accidentally bumped into me and dropped his glass over my legs. I couldn't do anything, I was too scared, and I couldn't use my powers in that situation either. I prayed for my tail not to appear, and it didn't. I don't know why or how but it didn't appear. Only you and David have a power like that. That's why I need your help."

Zac was rather overwhelmed by what he'd just told her. First Evie's fire magic, then a group if International Mermaid Hunters, and now Isis's no tail moment. "I don't know what to do really. Rita told me that only mermen had the power to shape shift and stop their transformations. Thing is though, you are a rather rare mermaid, and it wouldn't be an ultimate surprise if you really did hold that power without knowing. We should really go see Seiger."

"What about Tanya?" Isis asked. "She's just like me too."

"I know that, but I think we need to test it on you first and try and find the answer before we tell them about this," Zac replied, taking a hold of her hand. "Let's just go now."

He began pulling her down to beach and headed to the secluded part so that no-one could see them. He created a portal to the HMC, stepping through it after Isis had.

Landing on the other side, Seiger wasn't sitting in or standing by his huge chair. Instead, he was sitting at a desk across the room, piles upon piles of books around him.

"Look, I'm busy today so you could come back and talk about whatever it is you have to say tomorrow please?" Seiger called out.

"Can't even spare two minutes for you caring grandson?" Zac called back, catching his attention.

Seiger turned around with a smile on his face. "Oh. Sorry about that Zac." He got up from his chair and walked over to the two, greeting Zac with a brief hug. "I thought you and your friends were having a party?"

"We were," Isis replied, "but something's come up. Something we could use your help with."

"What impossible feat happened this time?" He asked, almost as if he knew what they were going to say.

Isis and Zac took it in turns to explain that she'd been splashed with water but didn't grow her tail.

"We thought maybe since Isis is one of the four original elemental mermaids, that she had this power all along," Zac said sharing his thoughts.

"It's a nice idea but I'm afraid I can rule it out," Seiger replied. "Aria had carried out extensive research a couple of years ago with me, it's not anywhere in a mermaid's matrix."

"I know we've said this a dozen times recently, but it really doesn't make sense," Isis said, sighing. "I mean, the only thing I can think of is if the power was somehow transferred to me, if that's even possible."

"Transfer... that's it!"

Seiger ran over to his desk and grabbed a book on lost arts. "I suppose neither of you two know about transfer magic do you?"

Both of them shook their heads.

"I expected as much," he stated. "Transfer magic is a very old ancient art used to transfer powers between mermaids, only basic powers though. But when I say transfer, it's more like a teaching. You transfer the power to them, but you don't lose it yourself. The magic itself is older than yourself Isis, dating back to most likely the first ever mermaids in this world. Before our time though, transfer magic was lost, and became what we know as a lost art. There are several lost arts like Hyperos magic and Sentrian magic, and Transfer magic falls in along with them."

"And?" Zac asked, dragging it out.

"When you taught Isis and Tanya the silver seal code, did you feel anything strange or say anything weird?" Seiger questioned.

Zac thought on it for a minute or two. "I remember going into Overdrive when I began teaching them the code, and chanting the words to learn it. But something happened at the end..."

"Eldura Heischia Lantura," Isis butted in. "Those were the three words he said to us at the end. Do they mean anything?"

Seiger ran back to his desk and began looking through different books. He had five volumes on ancient mermaid language, hoping to find those three words. Within minutes, he'd found them.

"Eldura, meaning 'I present to thee,' Heischia, meaning 'divine godly gift,' and Lantura meaning 'of mermen.'" Seiger put the three together and added in the extra words. "I present to thee a divine godly gift of mermen."

Something hit Zac like lightning. "Do you think that by saying those words, I somehow transferred a gift of my powers down to Isis?"

"It would make sense. I present to thee a divine godly gift of mermen, the only thing different between genders being powers. Only one power though. Shape shifting is the only 100% unique power mermen have. All their elemental magic is derived from mermaid magic," Seiger explained, everything slowly coming together. "Transfer magic. You transferred the divine power of shape shifting to Isis and Tanya."

Zac and Isis couldn't believe it. He'd used powers from a lost art whilst unconscious in Overdrive and for the better. "It's not a bad thing is it?" Zac asked a little worried.

"On the contrary, it's remarkable! We can use this discovery to teach every mermaid in the Higher Mermaid Council shape shifting. I'd like to keep this a secret from the regular council for now. If they find out we've discovered how to use a lost art, there would be hell to pay for." He murmured that last part.

"Why would there be hell to pay for?" Isis questioned curiously.

Seiger sighed. "The council below us prohibited the use of lost arts if they were learnt or discovered. They cannot know that Zac knows how to use transfer magic."

Zac and Isis nodded their heads in understanding. "Now, I suggest you two hurry on back to your party, the group will be worried about where you went to." He created a portal to lead them back to the beach, the two stepping through it, landing on the soft sand on the other side.

"So, transfer magic huh?" Isis said to herself as she and Zac walked back to the Ocean Cafe. "It's truly a miracle. After all, if you hadn't of taught us that code and transferred your power to us, I'd be exposed. So thank you."

Zac looked down at her and smiled, glad to see that Isis was still her upbeat happy self.

When the two reached the doors to the Ocean cafe, Lyla was standing outside waiting for them.

"Where have you two been?" Lyla asked, feeling slightly angry. "Isis, what happened to you when you were at the bar?"

She looked to Zac nervously, who very helpfully just shrugged his shoulders.

"We'll talk after the party's over," she replied, feeling slightly guilty. She kind of wished she'd of just told them there and then.

The three walked back inside, rejoining the party.

When they caught up with the group, all eyes were on Zac and Isis.

"Look, I've already said this to Lyla but can we just talk about this once the party is over?" Isis pleaded.

Tanya stared at her for a few seconds before her face melted into a smile, putting a strong arm around her friend. "Oh yeah, we'll talk alright. But for now, let's keep partying!" She shouted the last three words rather loudly which seemed to rile up the crowd.

* * *

**- Later that day, HMC - **

Zac, Evie, Lyla, Sirena, Rita, David, Tanya, Isis and Seiger all gathered around a table to discuss the events of the day.

"Might as well start from the beginning," Isis spoke up. "When I was over by the bar, I was just about to stand up and return to you when I bumped into this guy. He was holding a glass of water and he dropped it, the water splashing my legs.

"You were splashed?!" The six who didn't know about it shouted in shock.

"Yes. I prayed for my tail not to appear and somehow, it didn't," Isis explained briefly.

"But that's impossible," David noted. "Only me and Zac can stop ourselves from transforming if hit by water. Right?"

Zac nodded to him. "Exactly, which is why we decided to come straight to Seiger, hoping he could shed some light on the matter."

Everyone turned their heads to Seiger.

"Well, we do actually know the reason why Isis didn't transform," he began. He looked over at Rita. "You know of lost arts don't you?"

"Like Hyperos?" Rita asked, getting a nod back from Seiger.

"Transfer magic is amongst the lost arts, and is strictly forbidden by the council. Knowledge of the use of it results in dire consequences. But even in the Higher Council, I don't make the rules. They cannot ever know about us knowing how to use this art."

"How is it used then? What exactly is transfer magic?" Lyla asked.

"We don't know 100% what it really is and how it's truly used, but we do know how we can transfer our shape shifting magic. It's not like we lose it, we just pass it on like teaching," Zac replied. "There are three words from ancient mermaid language that are used to transfer it. Eldura Heischia Lantura. The three world put together mean 'I present to thee a divine godly gift of mermen.' When I taught Isis and Tanya the silver seal for our sleeping quarters, I went into Overdrive and said those three words right at the end. If I've got it right, just saying those three words in Overdrive should transfer the power over.

Everyone was a little star struck by this discovery, Rita was more shocked than anyone though, being highly knowledgeable.

"How about we see it in action then?" Rita suggested. "We have two mermen to cover four mermaids without this power."

"Hang on, I don't know how to do this. And I don't even know how to go into Overdrive," David pointed out.

"Don't worry boy, Overdrive comes naturally. You don't even have to think about it. What you do need to think about, is that you want to transfer your power of shape shifting to the girls," Seiger explained.

Everyone except Isis, Tanya and Seiger stood up. Zac decided to take Evie and Lyla, leaving David with Sirena and Rita.

The girls each held one hand out, palm up, for Zac and David.

The two boys steadied themselves, slowly but steadily entering Overdrive. They both put their hands on top of the ones held out for them.

"Eldura Heischia Lantura."

The same sort of silver glow engulfed their hands and was absorbed into the girls bodies, the Overdrive state disappearing once the light was all gone.

"That's it?" Lyla asked.

"That's it," Seiger replied. He created a small puddle of water on the floor though. "Just to test, step on that puddle and think about your tail not being there. Tell yourself that you are not going to transform."

Evie, Lyla, Sirena and Rita stepped into the puddle, each mermaid telling themselves in their head that they were not going to transform and grow a tail. 15 seconds and passed and the four were still standing.

"It worked," Evie said, unable to believe it. "It actually worked." She stepped out of the puddle along with everyone else, Rita evaporating it.

"This will make life so much easier," Sirena smiled. "No more running away at every single little drop of water that hits us."

Seiger himself smiled, happy to see that everyone was pleased with now being able to stop their transformations.

"On a more serious note," Seiger began. "I've still not found anything into Lacrima and Evie's fire magic. But for now, I'll keep researching. You have no orders from me except for Zac teaching in mermaid school, so just go about as normal. Tanya and Isis, I'm sure Felicity will introduce you to how jobs work around here tomorrow."

* * *

**- Several days later -**

Evie's fire training had gone well. She'd learnt how to summon it at will and also how to control it, including learning how to not set things on fire when trying to heat them up. She'd also picked up a little trick which was slightly copied from Zac. Remember during the Sea Demon fight how Zac fired two shots of wind to create a protective barrier? Evie does the same thing only she uses her fire magic instead.

Truth is, things had been rather peaceful. Felicity, Tanya and Isis had no jobs from the HMC at all whilst Seiger was still having no luck during his research into Lacrima. Lyla, Rita, Evie, Sirena and David had carried out life as usual and Nixie even gave her girls a phone call, saying she would be coming to visit them tomorrow.

In total, the six female mermaid friends decided to go out shopping to get some things for Nixie's visit whilst Zac decided to take a peaceful walk on the beach to clear his head of all the recent events. David on the other hand was working shifts at the Ocean Cafe.

His walk was going perfectly well, until he spotted something odd about a nearby rock. It looked just like any other ordinary rock, but the closer Zac looked out it, the more he could make out a strange dark gem embedded into the top of the rock. He couldn't help but go take a look.

When he touched the top of the rock, he could hear a strange noise behind him. "What in the-?"

He turned around to find a hole in the rock face. Looking into the hole that was now there, Zac could make out a set of steps, leading down into wherever the hole in the rock face lead.

He slowly walked over to it and quickly looked around to make sure no-one else was in the vicinity. He used his own fire magic to create a ball in the palm of his hand, one that gave him some light as he walked down the steps.

It seemed liked forever walking down the steps until Zac started to notice reflections on the walls.

"Water?" He asked himself as he ran down the last few steps, only to find a rather peculiar sight. There was a small tank of water next to one of the walls as well as a small desk with beakers, flasks, test tubes and clip boards galore sprawled out over it. The rest of the room was rather bare, but the one thing that struck Zac as being odd, was the small layer of water that covered the floor.

He used his spare hand to try and heat up the water, but it was to no avail.

_*This is just like that time with the Sea Demon, water that can't be evaporated.* _Zac thought to himself in disbelief. Looking around, he found a small switch and reluctantly flicked it, light filling the room.

He thought about freezing his feet and using water travel, but...

"Hey, is someone here?" A voice called out.

Zac was a little startled at first, and replied with a simple, "yeah." Moments later, two very unfamiliar men came within sight of Zac.

He decided to slowly make his way over to them, using his shape shifting to stop himself from transforming.

"Hey," Zac said to them rather slowly.

"Oh hey," one of the men replied. "You wouldn't know how to get out of here would you? We stumbled into this place but the entrance closed on us as we walked in."

_*Odd, the entrance I used was still open when I entered. Maybe there's another one,* _Zac thought to himself. For some reason, he decided to trust these two random men. After all, Zac himself had come across here by accident too.

"Well the entrance I came through was still open, it's that way but I don't know if it's still open now." Zac motioned to the steps behind him.

"Thanks man," they both replied, one of them slapping a friendly arm around Zac shoulder and tapping his neck, Zac feeling a small but sharp pain in that area.

"Ow," he muttered to himself as he rubbed the back of his neck. As he watched the two men walk away, one of them took of his jacket, revealing a rather terrifying tattoo.

"IMH?" Zac whispered in disbelief to himself. All of a sudden, he began to feel rather faint, and clutched his head as she slowly sank down to the floor, his tail eventually appearing. He'd felt this before, back when he was Joanna's test subject.

The two men then turned around, grinning massively at the sight now before them. "Looks like we got him good."

That last line was all Zac heard before he completely blacked out.

"Heh, one merman down, only two mermaids to go," Richard said snidely to himself, quickly disposing of the small syringe attached to his hand. They'd planned this for a while now. They studied Zac for the last week and figured out when he took walks near their hideout. They purposely placed the rock with the black gem on his route so that he would notice it, and open the door to their small Gold Coast Lab. Using the same water as Joanna and the Sea Demon did, they enticed him into helping them, acting like normal people who were just as confused as Zac was. When the moment was right, inject a small amount of knock-out liquid into his body and voila! Plan successful.

"Now we just have to do something about the other two, Isis and Tanya," Lucas pointed out.

"It's easy," Richard huffed. "They can't resist gossip. We just have to pass by them and entice them to find this place. Say that we saw a dark haired boy find the gem and enter the rock face and that we never saw him come out. Give it a day or so though, they'll be worried about him and come running on that small piece of hope. Besides, Russian Ice Mermaids have an incredibly good sense of hearing, she won't be able to resist."

Lucas smiled at him. "I am so glad I'm stuck with you," he joked, which earned him a little slap from Richard. "Come on, you genuinely are a pretty awesome partner in crime."

"Don't think just because I saved your ass 1,044 years ago means that I like you," Richard replied, glaring at Lucas.

"Jeez, it was 1044 years, 7 months and 18 days! You're loosing your touch man," Lucas joked again. He decided to stop now since Richard seemed to be getting very pissed off.

"Never mind what happened back then, we need to focus on our current task at hand. We get Isis and Tanya, and then we can begin our master plan for our mistress." Richard grabbed Zac's unconscious body and dragged it across the room into a corner. Clicking his fingers, the water on the floor suddenly drained away and Zac returned to a human form.

"Time to have some fun."

* * *

**- The next day, Rita's place -**

"Hey, has anyone seen Zac at all?" Evie asked worried. "He went out for his walk yesterday but never came back." Rita had called for a meeting at her grotto that morning after Evie had turned up last night, saying that Zac never came back to Mako and that he wasn't out his parents house either.

"No-one's got a clue where he's gone. For all we know, he could be anywhere. The Ocean is a rather huge place after all," Lyla pointed out.

Rita looked down at her watch. "I've called Tanya and Isis so they should be here in about another 10 minutes."

"Any idea if they're swimming or walking here?" Sirena asked.

"I've asked them to walk here. The reason being that something could have happened like with Joanna. When a mermaid or merman goes missing, we never let our own back into the ocean when it could possibly be incredibly dangerous."

* * *

**- On the path to Rita's house -**

"So where do you think he went?" Isis asked looking up at Tanya.

"From what I've heard the boy once got involved in a situation between a Scientist and a Sea Demon. It wouldn't be a total surprise if he somehow got involved in another crazy incident again," Tanya replied, still unable to comprehend how Zac let himself be caught in the first place.

Tanya passed by two hooded men, her strong sense of hearing kicking in.

"Hey, did you hear about that kid on the beach yesterday?" One of them asked.

"Yeah, I heard that someone saw this dark haired boy walk into this cave and he never came out again apparently," the other replied.

"Wait a cave? Are you pulling my leg here? All I heard was that he found this gem in a rock," the first one retaliated.

"He touched it and the rock face opened up, thought you would have known about it, the news is all over the place about him now," the second one defended.

Tanya suddenly stopped walking, putting 2 and 2 together after what she'd just heard.

"Zac," she whispered under her breath.

"Is something wrong Tanya?" Isis asked, genuinely concerned. "Did you hear something strange?"

"I know where Zac is, follow me," she said plainly as she turned around on the path and began running down towards the beach where Zac took his walks.

"Wait up," Isis cried, struggling to keep up with her. "Shouldn't we tell Rita and the others first? More importantly, are you going tell me at all?"

"I heard those two men talking to each other about a dark haired boy who wondered into this cave in a rock face but never came out. It just fits the situation," Tanya explained in staggered breaths.

After a few minutes, the two had reached the place where Zac would have been yesterday.

Tanya was looking very carefully at the rock face whilst Isis was looking around for the Gem that Tanya eventually mentioned to her. "Is this is?" She called out.

Tanya headed over to the rock she'd found, and the black gem was there, embedded into the rock. Tanya very cautiously touched it, both of them turning around just in time to see the rock face open up and the set of stairs.

Isis used her magic to create a lightning ball, much like Zac had with fire, to provide the two some light. After a minute of walking down the long metal steps, they entered the same room that Zac had.

"What on earth is this place?" Isis asked herself as she walked forward into the room, Tanya following her.

When Tanya stepped off of the last step though, a metal door suddenly shot up, blocking the only entrance and exit the room had. "Oh no!"

Isis suddenly shot around to see the door as well. "Great, just great." She suddenly remembered that Zac had been down here according to what Tanya heard the two men say. "Zac? You here?"

All Isis got in return though was a sinister laugh filling the room. "Welcome, Isis and Tanya. Or should we call you Elicia and Marina?" A voice asked over a loud speaker.

"Whoever you are, you'd better show yourself right now!" Tanya demanded.

Both Richard and Lucas stepped out of the shadows, with a dastardly grin. "Well well, it's nice to meet two of the original four Elemental mermaids," Richard said, bowing down to the girls.

For some reason, this made Tanya flare up, recognising their voices as the ones she heard not too long ago. She fired an ice dart towards Richard, who clicked his fingers, a purple barrier appearing around him.

"Woah take it easy there Marina," Lucas said smiling. "You wouldn't want us to hurt your little merman friend now would you?"

"What exactly have you done with him?!" Isis asked, her voice filled with anger. She may not have known Zac for long, but he was a good man in her eyes.

"Not much, just given him a few injections," Lucas replied in an almost sarcastic manner.

Tanya tried to fire some more ice darts at the two men, but they just clicked their fingers once again, barriers appearing around themselves.

She gritted her teeth. _*Barriers that deflect magic attacks? What about close up combat then?__*_ As a Russian Ice Mermaid, Tanya was also trained rather well in one-on-one combat. Using her Ice magic, she created herself a pair of claw gloves that went over her hands. She charged head on for Richard, lunging forward at him. He clicked his fingers once more and Tanya was thrown back across to the other side of the room when she made contact with it.

_*They deflect physical attacks too!? Is there nothing we can do to beat them? And where are these barriers coming from? These guys are just human right?* _Tanya tried to get her body to move so she could get back on her feet, but it was to no avail. Hitting the barrier had done exactly what it did to Felicity, rendered her body incapable of movement. "Isis!"

Isis had been standing in the corner whilst Isis attacked Richard and Lucas. When she heard Tanya call her name and saw the electricity around her body, she knew what to do. As a lightning mermaid, she could draw lightning to her body and discharge it with her own. She held out her left hand and began to draw the visible purple lightning off of Tanya's body and brought it into her own. Isis' Lightning should have immediately discharged Richard's own but it didn't. Instead, the purple lightning began shocking her body, something she was not used to at all, falling to the floor in screams of agony.

"Isis!" Tanya cried out, ashamed and upset for not knowing that the lightning would do that to her, since it shouldn't of. She rose back up to her feet. "You're gonna pay for that," she growled.

"I don't think so," Lucas teased as he raised his palm. Holding it flat out in Tanya's direction, a shot of the same purple lightning headed straight for Tanya's body. She too held her hand out flat in front of her in an attempt to freeze the lightning, but even that didn't work. When Tanya was hit by the lightning, it branched off and circled around her wrists and ankles, the line of lightning still coming from Lucas' hand.

"Now, which position looks better?" Lucas asked as he began to make the lightning pull Tanya right down to the floor, making her lie dead flat against it. "This?" He then pulled her legs forward and made her push her arms out flat in front of her. "Or begging?" He began laughing at her sorry state.

Tanya tried her best to move her head, but she couldn't. They had completely gotten her. They'd lured her into this place along with Isis and managed to get Zac as well. She didn't even understand the magic that they were using or who they were.

"Now now Marina," Richard said as he moved over to Isis in a calm manner. "Don't worry about all of this." He held 2 small vials in his hand with needles on them and quickly plunged one of them into Isis' body. It contained the same knock-out liquid that they used on Zac. He then moved over to Isis, who was unable to do anything at this point. "It's what happens when you wake up." He jabbed the second vial into her neck, her eyes slowly closing themselves. When Lucas released the lightning he was using to hold her down, her body slumped to the floor.

Richard began dragging Isis' body around the corner, Lucas following with Tanya's. They dropped the two over next to Zac's body.

"Zac's knock-out liquid should last for another half an hour, as should the liquid we just put into their bodies," Richard said to himself as he walked over to a nearby table which had a long metal bar on it, which had a clasp in the middle, and some chains and hooks.

"Right, so we have about 25 minutes to get everything set up and get airing."

* * *

**- During this time, at Rita's place -**

"They should have been here by now," Lyla pointed out. "Do you think something happened to them."

"They're elemental mermaids, they'll be just fine," Rita replied, trying to keep herself calm for everyone. "I'm heading upstairs for a minute."

She got up off of her seat and ran back up the steps, the book case opening and she approached it. She walked out into her kitchen to get a drink, but also, she was going to make a phone call to Iris' phone. Rita had given her one in case they got into any trouble on land.

Rita began typing in the number and was about to enter the last digit when the door bell rang. She stopped and very quickly ran over to the door, swinging it wide open expecting to see Tanya and Isis, but instead saw someone she hadn't seen in almost 2 weeks, and a friend, both with suitcases in hand.

"Nixie? Cam?" Rita asked, looking at her confused. "What are you doing here?" Are you okay?" Nixie was looking a little pale, and her face was full of worry.

"Rita I need to tell you something you're not going to like," Nixie eventually said, her voice being rather shaky. "I found an IMH base in California, and there were dead mermaids everywhere. I can't stay in California and neither can Cam. We took a flight here immediately. We just don't know what to do."

"If we stayed there, they might have found out about Nixie," Cam added.

Rita ushered them inside and told them to head downstairs, Rita following behind them.

"Guess who?" Cam called out as he headed on downstairs first.

"Cam?" Is that you?" Lyla asked as he stepped into the grotto. He smiled and looked to the entrance, Nixie walking in just after him.

"Nixie!" Lyla and Sirena screamed in happiness, immediately jumping up from their seats. They ran over to give Nixie a massive hug.

"What brings you two back here?" Sirena asked.

"Bad news I'm afraid," Rita replied, stepping into the grotto. "Nixie found the IMH base in California, dead mermaids. It wasn't say for them to stay there, so they flew out back to us. They only thing they can do is stay back in Australia for now"

"We can sort out where you're going to sleep later," Sirena interrupted. "How about we all go get some drinks at the Ocean Cafe to celebrate your return?"

"Odd celebration but sure, I could use my head being cleared," Nixie replied.

The six of them headed back upstairs and walked down to the Ocean Cafe.

The place seemed to be in full swing, David working away at the bar as usual, and Carly helping him out.

Nixie walked up to the counter with Cam.

"Hey what can I ge-" David began to say as he turned around, his words stopping short when he saw who it was. "Nixie! Cam! You here for a visit?"

"Hey David, I guess you can call this a visit. Can we get a round of drinks, you know what we all like," Nixie asked, pointing to Rita, Lyla, Evie and Sirena who were sat around one of the bigger tables the Cafe brought in.

"Sure. Wanna help me make them Sirena?" David asked, as an excuse just to be with Sirena as usual.

"Of course," she replied happily, hopping up from her seat to join David behind the bar.

After a few minutes, the five friends were sat down, just enjoying their drinks. Rita decided to step outside for a minute and see if she could call Isis from her mobile.

"Hello?" She first asked when her call was answered.

"Hello there," a voice replied, but it so wasn't Isis' which shocked Rita a little.

"I'm sorry, who is this?" Rita asked confused. "I've not got the wrong number have I?"

"Depends? Were you expecting Isis?" The voice asked back.

"Yes I was," Rita replied slowly.

"I'm sorry. But she can't come to the phone right now. But tell me something, are you within site of a TV?"

Even though Rita was really confused by this question, she still replied. "Yes."

"Ah, that's good. If you want to know why she couldn't make it, I suggest you keep your eyes glued to the closest TV screen you can find. Goodbye."

"No wait!" Rita shouted as the line was suddenly cut off. "She's in trouble."

Rita headed back in doors and slumped back down in her seat.

"Is everything okay Rita?" Nixie asked worriedly. It wasn't very often that Rita looked Troubled.

"I just tried to call Isis, and got someone completely different on the other end. They told me to keep my eyes glued to the closest TV screen I could find, if I wanted to know why Isis wasn't answering."

Everyone shot Rita a confused look.

All of a sudden, the TV in the Cafe started cracking up, which got everyone's attention. After about 10 seconds, the TV came back to life, but it wasn't on the channel it was before.

"Welcome one and all. Boy oh boy are you lot in for a treat today. Remember those times as a kid when you believed that mythical fantasies were real? What if we told you, we have proof?" The man on the screen asked.

The camera suddenly shot backwards to reveal a horrifying site.

The place on the TV was the IMH base that Isis, Tanya and Zac had wondered into. The person who was on the screen was Richard. In view of the camera was Lucas standing by the large tank, a trigger button in his hand. Above the large tank was a suspended long metal rod. Isis and Tanya were standing on it, chains attached to their hands, which were hanging from the ceiling to keep them balanced. They were still under from the liquid. Next to the tank, was Zac, who too was chained up from much longer chains attached to the ceiling, hanging him above the floor. There was also a chain around his ankles, tying them together. Zac's top had actually been taken off from before when Richard and Lucas were doing god knows what to them.

"Zac?" Evie and Lyla muttered under their breaths.

"Isis and Tanya?" Rita muttered under her breath.

Everyone else was just in shock.

"What on earth is going on here?" Carly asked.

"Today, ladies and gentlemen, the IMH plans to uncover the truth behind a very mystical race," Richard said facing the camera head on. "Merpeople."

* * *

**Nexus: I finally got this chapter done! It was way longer than I expected.**

**Nixie: ... Hang on, you had me and Cam come back from California, running away from the potential danger of the IMH, only to find out that there is trouble with them right here? With Zac, and two other people that I don't know?**

**Nexus: Yeah, this chapter leaves a decent amount of suspense for the next chapter.**

**So, you can pretty much see where this is going... but will the IMH get away with it?**

**David: She can't promise when the next chapter will be out, College work has just gotten very heavy for her...**


	5. IMH Live: Exposure

**Nexus: Well, it's been a while but here is the anticipated Chapter 5!**

**Crew: ...**

**Nexus: What?**

**Zac: Now you're just messing with us aren't you? First I get into trouble with a scientist who didn't want to expose me, now you stick me with a mermaid hunting group who either want to kill me or expose me!?**

**Nexus: Don't forget I roped Tanya and Isis in with you**

**Tanya and Isis: Don't remind us...**

**Evie: And if you go along with your plan, it's going to be dangerous for all of us!**

**Nexus: It's my story, you will get your happy ending, you just have to wait and be put through torture first. Don't forget, the true point of this story hasn't even come into light yet.**

* * *

Chapter 5: IMH Live: Exposure

"Merpeople?" This general chatter came from the crowd all around the Cafe. The girls, Rita, Evie, Cam and David tried their best not to look phased by it, even though they knew exactly what was going on.

"Now I know you're probably all watching us thinking we're loons right?" Richard stated. "But we're not. We're from the IMH, International Mermaid Hunters. We've been doing this job for years, and the time has finally come to show you all that they are real. I'm talking about the three you see here."

Isis, Tanya and Zac were still under from the knock-out liquid, and Zac was also blindfolded. If he saw what was going on, his Overdrive might explode and that would risk their chance of a successful operation.

Carly tried to change the channel over to something else, but it was no use. They were on every station. She couldn't even turn the TV off.

"Oh yeah, some of you might have noticed that you can't switch your TV off or change channel," Lucas added. "Don't worry, once our little show is over, we'll give you control of your TV's again. Also, you might recognise who these guys are."

Everyone in the Cafe took a long hard stare at the TV, the group of 7 just trying to act indifferent about it all. Inside, they were all incredibly worried and felt rather sick.

"Isn't that Zac Blakely?" Someone called out.

People took another good stare at the man blindfolded and hung by chains.

"Yeah, it is!"

Now that they knew who he was, everyone was feeling a range of emotions. Confusion, panic, shock.

"Aren't you guys worried about this!?" A man called out, looking at Rita, Lyla, Nixie, Sirena, Evie, Cam and David. "That guy is your friend!"

"We're worried trust me but there's nothing we can do. We just have to listen to their silly little false announcement and then go find him," Cam replied on behalf of the group, the others around her giving a general nod.

Back at the IMH base, Richard was glancing at his watch. 30 seconds. "In 30 seconds they will awake and the show can begin."

Lucas looked down at his own, counting out the seconds out loud.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Time to wake up." The second Lucas said his last words, Zac, Isis and Tanya shot awake.

"What the heck!?" Isis shouted once she noticed that she was standing on a beam, being chained at her hands and unable to move. She looked to her right to see Tanya right along side her in the same position. Looking down to her left, she saw Zac.

"Zac!"

He tried to move his head to look at them, but it just wouldn't do so. "Isis?"

Tanya looked down at him, noticing he was blindfolded.

"Isis, he can't see us, he's blindfolded," she kindly pointed out.

"Why is he blindfolded though?" Isis asked herself.

"Simply because if he could see what is going on, he would go into overdrive, and we can't risk that happening," Lucas explained as he slowly walked over to Zac. "Such a perfect specimen cannot be allowed to slip out of our hands," he said as he caressed Zac's cheek.

"On with the show then," Richard began. "For thousands of years, and even many years before then, creatures of the sea known as mermaids have always existed. They still do to this day, populating the seas of our world. Even though they are bound to the sea, several mermaids have learnt how to take on a human form. The answer to this, magic. Every mermaid has their own magic, pretty much all of them have control of water, the essence of their spirit and life. For the ones fortunate enough to get legs, they do not dry out on land like every other mermaid would. Over time, mermaids have become more and more reluctant to humans, with only the curious few dare trying to get legs and venture onto land. The perfect example would be the two girls you see up there!" He pointed towards Isis and Tanya.

"But of course, they aren't just any regular mermaids these two," Lucas interrupted. "They are elemental mermaids, born from two of four very rare pods, being situated in England and Russia respectively. And these two, are the pod leaders, containing the souls of Elicia and Marina, two of the true original four elemental's, their souls passed down into new bodies over time, currently residing in these two."

"Yes. But mermaids who come on land have one weakness, a single drop of water will cause them to revert back and gain their tails again. Once they are dry though, they return to human form. This has always been our greatest advantage, for unless they can dry off every single drop of water before roughly 10 seconds, they turn back," Richard explained. "Maybe, a demonstration is in order?"

Lucas grinned when he heard those words. He clicked his fingers and watched as the bar beneath Isis and Tanya's feet collapsed in the centre, leaving them dangling by the chains. Both girls had shrieked a little when it happened. Lucas clicked his fingers once more and the chains on their wrists opened up, leaving Isis and Tanya to drop into the tank of water below them with a mighty splash.

Richard began smiling, knowing that once the bubbles cleared, they would be seen by everyone.

What he saw though, made his face drop into confusion. "What!?"

Isis and Tanya were using their new shape shifting magic to stop themselves from transforming. Both of them surfaced, keeping a very clear mind on keeping themselves like this.

Richard looked at them for a few seconds, before the shock on his face faded, leaving a smirk as a replacement. "Oh I see. Looks like somebody was busy figuring out forbidden transfer magic. Naughty boy aren't you?" He stated looking over at Zac. "Well, thank god we come equipped."

Richard snapped his fingers and watched as a new set of chains rose up from the floor of the tank, snapping themselves around the girls ankles. He flicked his fingers down and watched as both girls were dragged down to the bottom of the tank. "Lets see how long you can focus and hold your breath for. Sooner or later you'll snap and transform."

Both girls were surprisingly very good at breath holding, everyone in the Cafe was glued to the screen, watching in anticipation to see if it would really happen.

After 2 minutes, neither of them could hold it any longer. They both looked at each other and swiped their hands across in front of them turning invisible and releasing their hold on their shape shifting.

"Woah!" People in the cafe exclaimed as Isis and Tanya suddenly disappeared from view. "They really do have magic!"

"So, now we're deciding to play a game of hide and seek are we?" Lucas teased. "Come on, I'm pretty sure we'd all like to see you're true forms. After all, everyone is watching you."

"Everyone?" Zac spoke up suddenly. Even though he couldn't see, he'd been listening to every detail.

"Didn't we tell you?" Lucas asked, beginning to laugh. "Everyone in Australia is watching you right now. We hacked the system, and every channel is us. They can't even turn it off. This is IMH Live: Exposure after all."

Zac gritted his teeth. This was a strange deja vu feeling, but worse, because this time he really would be exposed if he didn't do anything. He tried to get any part of his body to respond with him, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't move. This was really it for him.

"Hmm, come on now girls, you can stop hiding," Richard teased, as he prepared to click his fingers again. "If you don't come out of hiding and show all the ladies and gentlemen your faces, we'll force you to instead."

He gave them about 20 seconds, and still no response. "Fine then!" He clicked his fingers and watched with glee and purple electricity began to flow into the tank, and electric wave surging through the water. Moments later, Isis and Tanya let out a horrifying scream, releasing themselves from their invisibility, a general shock and awe coming from everyone watching in the Cafe.

"No way," someone said breathlessly.

A pair of males sat their in shock, one of them reaching into their pockets to take out at $50 note and handing it to the other. "You were right."

The group of 7 sat their with incredibly worried looks on their faces. This was it for them. Mermaids had finally been exposed.

Isis and Tanya tried to move but they were still being held down by the chain which now latched onto their tails.

"Go on and tell us then," Tanya began. "Why go to all this trouble, what's the point of exposure?!"

"It wouldn't be any fun if we just came out with the truth behind this all now would it?" Lucas replied smirking. "All I will say, is that this is all for a greater cause. You'll find out about it soon enough. Once our programme is over, you'll be taken to our mistress."

"Mistress?" Isis asked confused.

"Yes, and she's very interested in both of you," he replied. Then he turned around to face Zac head on. "But she's even more interested in you."

Richard began speaking to the public again. "It's not just mermaids we're here to talk about either. Besides them, they also have a male counterpart, mermen. Long ago, there were peaceful times when mermen first came into the world. No-one truly knows where they came from to begin with, but mermaids seemed fine with it, accepting them as their own counterpart. Though after a while, a war raged between them, and mermen were practically wiped out into extinction. Though one or two did survive, turning to the human world and passing on their genes into human babies, in the hopes that the genes that made them what they are carried down into them. After a while, it was successful, and nowadays most people who have mermaid or merman blood within them have the chance to turn into what they were born to be when they being to reach the age of 16, 17 or 18. Research with us shows it can be just about anywhere within these ages. Changes happen but ultimately they are given a choice whether they want to become a merperson. If the accept, they get a tail. If they refuse, then all magical properties are drained from their bodies, removing all mer-blood within them. Though there are one or two more recent known cases where the final offering never came."

"Though that's not the only way to get a tail," Lucas interrupted once again. "You know that don't you Zac? The night you went camping on Mako Island, the night you discovered the land entrance, the night you fell into the moon pool, the night you were changed forever."

Lucas dipped his finger into a nearby glass of water and walked back over to Zac. He held the finger just above his shoulder, watching as a single drop of water fell onto it.

Zac tried his best to think about not transforming, but he could feel inside that the signals from his brain weren't getting any response from the rest of his body. There was literally nothing he could do. In a matter of seconds, he too, would be exposed.

After those few seconds, Zac's beautiful long blue tail took place of his legs, the chain that was around his ankle now around the base of his tail.

Everyone that was watching, was even more shocked when they saw Zac transform.

"If some of you are a little confused, let me help you." Richard walked up the camera and looked head on at it.

"Memory Meta-code 237,429, release."

At that moment, everyone who had had their memories changed by Aquata and Maya, began to remember what really happened.

"You all remember the case with Joanna Fischer, her death? The whole mermaid business? Zac here was the one she found. Along with this, we were the ones who created the Sea Demon that took over her and killed everyone. She was an experiment so to say, and she gave us our results. We don't even need to tell you anything else to piece most of it together, from his disappearance until now." Richard then stepped out of the way and allowed focus back onto Zac.

"Zac," Tanya whispered under her breath. She couldn't bare to see him exposed, with her in the same room unable to do anything about it. She felt hopeless, just like Zac did.

"We'll give you a parting gift though Zac, you have one minute to say anything to your loved ones, for you may never see them again."

Zac's brain was working overtime to try and think of something to say.

"Evie. If you're watching me, then I'm sorry. I've let you down, and not for the first time either. But please, tell Seiger of this news and the words I speak." His body entered Overdrive, the strange golden glow returning. "Heltrana Eslcura Meintei Lestou Fertoura, Heltrana Prophecia Tellara Eradia Gresceila Fe Heltrana Poura Mermaid Vescanta. Fe, Dousille Letousche. Eldichie... Sarah." Afterwards, the Overdrive faded away.

"Ah, so not only does he know of Transfer Magic but he also knows how to speak Ancient Mermaid, aren't we skilled?" Lucas then grabbed Zac's face and turned it towards his own by force. "To think you were once a mere human, and now you're the perfect specimen we've been searching for." Without any sort of indication or warning, Lucas suddenly forced his lips upon Zac's own, earning a general gasp from everyone watching and from Isis and Tanya.

Evie and Lyla were absolutely furious with his actions, and Evie was even more worked up because Lyla was showing just as much anger. Why did she care so much for him all of a sudden?

Lucas eventually parted from him. "You even taste perfect." Before Zac even had a chance to reply, Lucas brought him into another kiss, grabbing a vial of knock-out liquid from his pocket and jabbing it into Zac's tail. Within seconds, his body became limp again, his head dropping after Lucas released the kiss again.

"Let this serve as a warning to all mermaids and few mermen out there. The IMH has begun its final act for the prophecy, and within 4 days, the final bell will toll and Eradia will rise."

With those final words, the TV went blank.

Pretty much everyone was still speechless. Not only themselves, but everyone is Australia had just witnessed proof that mermaids were real. No-one knew what to say really, nothing made any sense to them. But to mermaids, they knew what this meant for them, even if none of the six knew about a prophecy or whoever or what Eradia is.

Evie suddenly jumped out of her seat and literally ran out of the Cafe, down towards a secluded area of the beach.

"Evie!" Nixie called as she began running after her. Lyla, Sirena and Rita followed, David and Cam staying behind in the Cafe. Joe had also been in the Cafe at the time, he himself knowing where the whole thing was going. David knew as well, and so did Cam. He didn't know that everyone else knew about it as well, he could tell from their expressions compared to everyone else's. "Bro and Cam, I need your help out in the store room for a minute."

Both boys rose up from their seats and made their way out to the store room with Joe. Once they closed the door, they felt a little less pressured.

"Care to tell me why Evie just up and ran out of the Cafe like that?" Joe asked politely.

"She must have just been shocked seeing Zac like that," Cam suggested.

"No way. I was watching the facial expressions when he was exposed, and all seven of you seemed rather scared. Not shocked, scared. I know that you and bro know about Zac, but do they?"

David looked over to Cam who just nodded his head.

"Yeah, all of us know that Zac's a merman," David replied.

"So why did you all look so scared when those guys said that it was a warning for merpeople. How can you be scared about it? It's not like-" Joe would have carried on his sentence but as he spoke, pieces finally came together.

"Lyla, Nixie and Sirena, they're mermaids aren't they?" Joe asked, not shocked by the thought of it at all.

David just sighed. "Yeah they are."

"What about Rita Santos and Evie?" Joe asked. "Last time I checked, both seemed pretty much human."

"Joe, Miss Santos is a mermaid, that's why she was looking after Sirena, Lyla and Nixie. As for Evie, it requires a little bit more explaining."

"Evie's one too?" Joe asked with surprise. "But I've seen her diving, she doesn't just suddenly grow a tail."

"That's because she never used to. After the incident with the Sea Demon, she was discovered to have mer-blood in her body," Cam began to explain.

"Blood that came from _my _mother," David finished off, looking his 'brother' directly in the eyes.

"I was wondering how long it was going to be before you eventually found out that mum couldn't have a second child, and used a surrogate mother instead." It hadn't hit Joe yet that David and Evie's mother were one in the same. "Woah there bro! If Evie's mother was your surrogate mother, then you have mer-blood in you too!?"

"Yeah, I didn't get the option against not becoming a merman, it just happened," David replied, still wondering how his brother could sometimes be really smart but at the same time so dense.

"Prove it then," Joe eventually said. "Do something only they could."

The easiest thing that David could think of, was to turn invisible. He swiped his arm across his body, disappearing.

Joe didn't even know what to say, staring at his brother dumbfounded after he released the invisibility. "Okay, so you really a merman. Wonderful, just when a group of mermaid hunters expose your existence and say that in 4 days you're basically all fucked."

"There's only one thing we can do. I have to go with the girls to see Seiger," David explained.

"Who is this Seiger anyway?" Joe asked confused.

"Zac's Grandad, the leader of a powerful council of mermaids. Zac was speaking in Ancient mermaid to us, and Seiger has 5 massive books on every single translation for the language. It's not used any more but for some reason, Zac knows how to speak it," David explained. "Now, if you'll excuse me." He opened the door and looked at casual as he could, walking out the front door to find his friends.

Several hundred metres up the beach, David could just make out 5 bodies diving into the ocean. Knowing that it would be Rita, Lyla, Nixie, Sirena and Evie, all heading out to Mako, he decided to run down to the beach and jump in after them.

After a few minutes, David swam in through the Moon Pool entrance and saw all 5 mermaids sitting around the edge, almost as if they were waiting for him. He moved himself over next to Sirena, and waited for someone else to break the silence.

"So now what do we do?" Lyla asked. "3 of us have been exposed to whole of Australia and they all know that mermaids are real. If we try to find and rescue Zac, Isis and Tanya, there's a good chance we'll be caught ourselves, and god knows what they'll do with us. But if we do nothing, this prophecy will come true and it'll be the end of us apparently."

"Rita. You're good with mermaid history, know anything about a prophecy?" Nixie asked, looking over at Rita.

"Sadly no," Rita replied putting her head down. "The only person who might know is Seiger, but with Zac gone I don't know how we'll get to the HMC. Only Zac or other HMC members can open a portal to it."

"Makes me wish Aquata was here to help us," Sirena said to herself.

As luck would have it, at that moment, Aquata swam up through the entrance herself.

"Aquata?" Sirena asked in disbelief.

"You all have a lot of explaining to do," she replied in a low angry tone. She herself had seen what had happened on TV. She was out finishing a job when she walked by an electronics store, and saw the events unfold.

"There's nothing to explain," Nixie fought back. "Zac, Isis and Tanya obviously stumbled upon the IMH base and those two idiots who exposed them were waiting there to catch them."

"It's not that I'm entirely worried about, even though their exposure is a massive issue for us, we can hide it out in the HMC, there's no other way to get to is unless you're a member. It's this Prophecy and Eradia I'm worried about," Aquata replied. "I presume you all want to see Seiger right?"

Everyone nodded their head in response and watched as Aquata created a white portal to the HMC for them.

Sirena swam over to her sister and gave her a massive hug. "What would we do without you sis?"

Aquata just smiled at her, before rushing her and the others through the portal, going through last herself.

When they landed on the other side, Aquata had dropped them straight off into Seiger's room. "I'll see you all later. I'd love to stick around but I've got to report on my mission to Rowina." She walked back through the large double doors, leaving the girls, Rita and David to break the bad news.

"What happened this time?" Seiger asked as turned around to see the six, Evie looking like she was ready to burst out crying.

"Seriously bad news," Rita replied in a sad tone. "Zac, Tanya and Isis, were... captured by the IMH."

Words could not even describe the look of sheer terror on Seiger's face. "Oh no. Please tell me you're joking."

"We're not," Nixie replied harshly. "They've just gone and exposed the three of them to the entire of Australia on TV! No-one is safe any more."

He just couldn't believe it. "This is bad. I suggest that all of you remain inside the HMC until we sort this out."

"Might have some issues there," Lyla interrupted. "They spoke of a prophecy, set to come true in about 4 days?"

Seiger rattles his brain until he remembered what it might be. "Did they happen to speak of Eradia?"

"They did mention Eradia yes. Do you know exactly who or what it is? Or this whole prophecy?" Rita asked.

"I know it all too well. The prophecy they speak of is known as Eradia Archelist. Eradia was an ancient spirit who came into being about the same time as mermen did. She was a horrible piece of work, fed off of mermaids for our life force but she also fed on the blood of a merman, giving her supposed immortality. Luckily, we ourselves know that it doesn't last forever, the immortality from a merman only gives 1050 years give or take. We managed to seal her spirit away inside of an Archelite shell, tossed into the darkest and deepest trench we could find. When those 1050 years are up, she'll die. It's now been 1044, and we thought everything would be okay. Turns out we were dead wrong. The IMH managed to somehow find her, triggering the Eradia Archelist Prophecy."

He took a breather.

"When the shell of Archelite is found by the eternal rivals of merpeople, in seven days she will revive in her new vessel and destroy the source of what sealed her up. Mako Island will fall victim, and the one courageous merman who tries to save them all, will die during his effort. Eradia will not live for 1050 years though, the combined blood shed on Mako Island will suffice enough to become truly immortal. From then on, the world will slowly fall and bend to her will, raging floods destroying the land."

"That is all I know of it I'm afraid," Seiger apologised. "If only we had even the first clue about where to start with it all."

The question is, why did they expose us, why do they seem so keen on Zac and two of the original elemental mermaid?" Rita asked herself.

"Remember what Zac said to me? Tell Seiger of this news and the words I speak," Evie replied. All of a sudden, her body began glowing with the same golden glow of Overdrive.

"Heltrana Eslcura Meintei Lestou Fertoura, Heltrana Prophecia Tellara Eradia Gresceila Fe Heltrana Poura Mermaid Vescanta. Fe, Dousille Letousche. Eldichie... Sarah." Much like Zac, when she was finished, the glow faded.

"Overdrive Transfer?" Seiger noted. "That boy's got a number of tricks up his sleeve. He must have transferred it to you during the shape shifting transfer. Overdrive Transfer allows him to send out important messages to people and then have them repeated through someone else."

"That aside, what do all those words mean?" Nixie asked impatiently.

"It's just a good thing I've now read and memorised all 5 books on Ancient Mermaid, since Zac somehow seems quite acquainted with it."

He took but a few minutes to translate it all.

"Tell him of our fall to the enemy who we were useless against, tell him of the prophecy stating Eraida and her return and tell him to warn all mermaids of our situation. And, I'm sorry for everything. You have to find Sarah."

"At least he's right about one thing, we have to warn all mermaids around Australia of our current status," Nixie spoke up. "If need be, spread it to other councils."

"Nixie, I want you and Lyla to go inform them of this immediately." Seiger summoned a white portal for them. "This should take you to their chambers."

The pair hurried through the portal, leaving just Evie, Rita, David and Sirena.

Before Seiger had the chance to say something, another white portal appeared, Felicity stepping through it.

"I think you guys have at least 10 seconds to explain to me what the hell that foolish merman was doing getting us all exposed like that," she stated firmly, and she did not look all too happy either.

"We don't know the first thing about how it happened," Seiger defended. "But what we do know is that you have perfect timing as always. We need you to find Sarah."

Felicity seemed even less happy now. "You really want to try and contact my sister?"

"I know she's probably half way up a mountain on another spiritual expedition but Zac's requested that we find her. Before the IMH even mentioned the prophecy, he mentioned it in his Overdrive transfer to Evie. He knows a lot more than we do, and if he says we need Sarah, then we need Sarah," Seiger explained.

Felicity thought about it for a minute. Sarah would be pretty pissed off if she were to call her, but it seemed like she didn't have much choice other wise. She grabbed a small conch shell out of her pocket and held it to her ear.

"How is that going to be of much help?" Evie asked whispering.

"Connection Conch's have only 1 line between them. Think of them as modern cell phones will only 1 contact who you can call. Hers is linked directly to Sarah's," Seiger explained.

* * *

**- Somewhere on the top of a mountain -**

"Felicity?" Sarah asked as she answered her conch.

"Sorry to call you like this sis, you must be in the middle of one of your big expeditions for spiritual means but something terrible has come up," Felicity replied on the other end.

"It'd better be a good enough terrible thing or else you're gonna suffer interrupting my expedition like this," she stated rather angrily. "So what exactly happened?"

"Well um- you see... a merman, Elicia and Marina might have just been exposed by the IMH on TV to the entire of Australia." She swallowed really hard at the end.

Sarah was calm for a few seconds before loosing it. "Say what!? Elicia and Marina managed to get themselves caught by the IMH and got exposed on TV!? Worse, there's a merman involved!?"

"Look I know it sounds pretty bad and you're right it is pretty bad, but Zac spoke of the prophecy and specifically requested that we find you. How much do you know about this prophecy?"

"More than you think I know. I've lived through seeing this prophecy once and I know how it works in and out. Everything is done by the rules set in stone, they are completely unavoidable. Except for one part of it. If the correct conditions are met, we might be able to stop Eradia Archelist from happening," Sarah explained.

"Seriously? We could stop it?" Felicity asked surprised.

"Yes, but there are 10 incredibly hard conditions to meet, and our chances on two of them are very slim. I'll see you tomorrow, it'll take one day to get back here." With that said, she shut of the connection between the two.

"Oh well, spirituality will have to wait," Sarah huffed as she jumped off the mountains peak, riding down the side of it using her air magic to keep her safe.

* * *

**Nexus: Sorry if this chapter seemed a little confusing but the full explanation of the plot of this whole thing will come in next chapter, along with Sarah.**

**Felicity: So my sister has air magic huh?**

**Nexus: Yeah, I'm not revealing all the details on her until chapter 6. But there is some good news for us all! I've checked it and the petition to stop SOPA getting rid of all fan-made stuff on the internet has got it's 100,000 needed signatures, so we should be all safe for another 4-ish years. It's been pretty close this year though, 102,000 was only just tonight when I checked it.**

**Zac: Like you said, at least we're all safe, along with your fanfics and everyone elses, which is what matters.**

**Nexus: You're right. I'm also sorry if this chapter seems a little poorly written, I'm in the middle of writers block but there wasn't much else to do with this chapter you see. Hopefully all loose ends from this chapter including Sarah, the Prophecy, Eradia, and the true goals of the IMH will be cleared up and put to rest. After that, the action can once again begin!**

**See you whenever I next see you.**


	6. The ones of Air and Fire

**Karen: Hi guys. Um, sorry that this chapter took so long to get out, College... I had a lot of work to do but I've finally found myself a break!**

**Sarah: Glad you found the time, at long last**

**Karen: Hey, don't blame me, blame my College course for using our classes as Guinea Pigs for this new course. **

**Sarah: Fine. Do I get my screen time now?**

**Karen: Okay okay! On with Chapter 6 it is then.**

* * *

Chapter 6: The ones of Air and Fire

**- At the IMH Base after the exposure -**

"What the heck was 'that' all about?" Richard growled as he walked over to Lucas.

"What the heck was 'what' all about?" Lucas asked confused. This was the first time in a while that Richard had seemed rather mad at him.

"You know what I mean. Kissing Zac like that," he replied as he gritted his teeth.

"Come on now, something as perfect as him, who could resist," Lucas replied in turn. "Why would you be mad about it anyway? It's not like you ever cared for me."

That just about pushed Richard over the edge. He pushed Lucas firmly up against the wall and kept him there, staring deep into eyes.

"Rick?"

"I thought I told you not to call me that," he replied angrily. "I abandoned that name when I began this whole thing 1044 years ago. Don't forget, you abandoned yours too, Lucien."

Lucas growled back at him. "That aside, why do you care if I like Zac or not?"

Richard forced his own lips onto Lucas', which he was rather stunned about. After a minute, he released it, and let Lucas go.

"I may not have liked you much back when I first saved you, but it never meant I didn't care for you," he explained. "Seeing you kiss Zac like that, brought up some painful memories of the old times before this whole hunting business began. I also don't want you to get attached to him. I know what you're like when you love something, you don't want to let it go and our entire mission and years of works could go down the drain because of it."

Lucas couldn't believe it. Richard really did care for him. He'd been hinting on for years and Richard never took one second of his time to notice it, and he'd finally said in plain English that he cared for him. All the years of work seemed like it was worth it now. But deep down, there was still something about Zac he couldn't ignore, and if he couldn't surpass his emotions, they would be screwed.

"Hey, you gonna help me move these guys out so we can go see Lucy or are you just going to stand there in shock all day?" Richard called out as he smashed the tank the girls were being held in. The girls had had another shot of knock-out liquid. As Richard clicked his fingers, all of the water drained from the floor, and Isis and Tanya returned to a human form. Zac had already done so.

"I'll take Zac and Isis, you take Tanya," Richard ordered as he slung the two of them over his shoulders. Lucas picked up Tanya and slung her over his right shoulder as well, following Richard out of the base to get back to Lucy.

* * *

**- The next day, at the HMC -**

Everyone had stayed the night in the HMC, after deciding that they couldn't risk going back to the Gold Coast.

"Morning everyone," Sirena called happily as she joined everyone for breakfast, which was a massive feast of sea food.

"Morning Sirena," David replied as she sat next to him, followed by the usual morning kiss.

Both Evie and Lyla seemed rather unsettled. Both were worried about Zac, and Evie was still worried about why Lyla was showing so much care for him. She'd never shown much before, but once he'd been accepted into the pod on Mako Island, she seemed a little too happy about it.

"It'll be alright Evie. Felicity's sister Sarah will see us today and hopefully she can clear up what's going on," Rita said trying to comfort here a little.

"I hope so," she replied in a low tone.

After they'd finished their breakfast, they all heard a knock on the doors.

"Seiger!" The voice shouted. "Open these damn doors!"

Seiger clicked his fingers and watched as the huge double doors opened wide, Sarah standing in the doorway.

As we've said, Sarah is Felicity's older sister and is seen even less at the HMC than anyone else. She only usually goes out for very rare tough jobs and spends most of her time on spiritual expeditions, mainly up huge mountains where she finds it most peaceful. Sarah has red/ purple hair which she runs straight down to her lowest rib, is curly, and has a braid across the top of her head like a headband. One of her eyes is a hazel/ green shade whilst the other is pure white. She also has a scar with a curly wisp running down her right eye, the white eye. She was wearing something pretty similar to her sister, her mermaid top was white, and she wore a white skirt which was short at the front, but grew longer down the back and trailed on the floor. She was also wearing a white cape.

"Why were the doors locked?" She asked angrily.

"Sorry, recent events have forced up to keep them closed," Seiger briefly explained.

"So what has happened recently? Oh that's right, you guys got exposed!" She screamed. "How could you let yourselves be exposed like that? Do you have any idea how much trouble we're in?"

"We know how much trouble we're in but it wasn't our fault," Nixie defended as she rose up from her seat. "We hadn't even seen Zac since he went for a walk two days ago, and we never saw Isis and Tanya when we called for them to come over. So don't go shouting off saying it's our fault. We know how much trouble we're in and don't think we aren't totally distraught over all of this because we are!"

The two stared at each other for a minute before Sarah lightened up. "I'm sorry. It's just I never thought I'd live to see the prophecy almost come true again," she apologised.

"There is one thing you should all know. Felicity and Sarah are indeed sisters but they did not grow up here. They were born into a pod in America, more specifically, the air magic pod. As you can tell from her eye and scar, Sarah is indeed Aria," Seiger explained.

"Yes, and knowing that Elicia and Marina are in trouble pains me. Any idea how Lacrima's been?" Sarah asked.

Seiger looked down sadly. "I guess word never got around to you all those years ago. She died, her soul was ripped apart in a battle."

"I see," she replied, with a tear in her eye. "Lets try not to focus too much on the matter. What matters right now, is how we're going to beat the prophecy. You know it states that Eradia needs a vessel in order to be reincarnated, a lot like me, but she needs one of a natural born. It also states there is one merman who dies in trying to save Mako Island. I believe they plan to use either Elicia or Marina as a vessel and Zac as their destructive successful trigger. There are a few ways around the prophecy, but they are not nice. There are 10 different factors that can change it all."

She took a breath before explaining each one.

"Number 1, if Eradia cannot find a suitable vessel, she will die out. Sounds easy but I doubt it will be, they'll be keeping our friends under lock and key for the next four days. Number 2, if the merman doesn't die, there is a chance she can be defeated in combat. Number 3, if another merman other than the stated falls in his place, there is a chance it might ruin the operation. Number 4, if Eradia's shell is destroyed by the four original elemental mermaids, she will die. This can't happen know that I know that Lacrima has been dead for god knows how many years. Number 5, this one is rather weird, if the prophecy deems the merman not worthy of death, or sees it as too much of a threat, it will either try to make him die faster, or save him from dying. Number 6, if Eradia somehow doesn't make it into her chosen set vessel but gets into another one, her powers won't be stable, giving us a chance to kill her if it happens. Number 7, if the IMH turn against Eradia, she can die at their hands. Number 8, if Mako Island falls before Eradia is reborn or before she gets her chance to kill us, the prophecy will just stop, with nowhere to go and nothing to do. Number 9, the ancient and forbidden Hyperos chant of death can weaken her, but it is unknown if anyone can read it. And number 10, whilst the blood of merpeople can make her immortal, blood of a human can weaken her too."

"So how did she get sealed up in that shell before? You said you've lived through one prophecy so what happened?" Sirena asked curiously.

"Ah well, numbers 2, 3, 5 and 10 happened. Lucien didn't die like he was supposed to and Hanyo took his death instead. Rick saved him and the prophecy altered itself to actually help him. Eradia was also tricked into drinking human blood just before her sealing," Sarah explained.

"Am I right in thinking that this prophecy is like a 50/50 thing?" Nixie wondered. "Because Eradia can die in so many ways and there are some options there that basically alter it from it's original plan. Is Eradia's prophecy like a hit and miss? If it succeeds, it gets what it wants. But if it fails and changes, does it do it for the better?"

"Yes it does. Eradia's prophecy wasn't originally meant for destruction which is how it was changed in the first place. The original prophecy was of Eradia's sealing and death, until two young men accidentally woke her up, just when she was near her death again. Those two boys were never supposed to find it, but in doing so, the prophecy was changed as Eradia went mad with rage and tried to destroy Mako Island. The prophecy itself had one original true form, but over time, it's shifted in favour between us and Eradia herself. The original true spoke of her downfall at the hands of the higher council, which it did back then, and her sealing inside a shell, where she would rot for 1500 years until she died, due to drinking blood of a merman. Afterwards, peace and prosperity would flourish throughout the sea, and once those 1500 years were up, mermaids and mermen would know no harm ever again. It's also said that the Archelist Shell can bring the dead back to life, which is why I want her dead so bad."

"Any idea on what we should do then Sarah?" Sirena asked. "You know the most about this prophecy out of all of us, and you've seen it change. Please, what can we do to save Zac and the entire of Mako Island?"

"The first thing we need to do, is find out where the IMH have taken our friends. They'll be keeping them under lock and key so it won't be easy and we now only have 3 days in which to find them. If we don't do it before then, our chances of defeating her are slim. We essentially need to save Zac before he gets killed and make sure he doesn't. And before anyone asks about option 3, I won't let another merman die because of me and slip-ups. I lost Ben to my mistakes in the past, and I won't let Zac or David go the same way," Sarah explained, a few tears forming in her eyes when she spoke of Ben.

"Was this Ben your lover?" Rita asked in a comforting voice.

"He was my human lover, back when I was in a different body. So, I turned him into a merman so he could live with me longer. We went out on a mission together and I screwed up, costing him his life. I don't want to go into details about it. But with that Archelist Shell, he could live again," Sarah replied, everyone now realising why she wanted Eradia dead so badly. "Even so, the plan is to save Zac, not let him die, and to make her drink human blood to weaken her. I'm going on what happened in the past, but we don't know if numbers 5, 6, 7 or 9 could happen as well. Either way, they should all roughly go in our favour, except number 5, that's risky."

"Where do we start looking for them?" Lyla asked with determination.

"We should check out the base where they were previously held, I know where the one on the Gold Coast is and how to get in," Sarah replied. She summoned a white portal next to her. "It leads out straight onto the beach where the cave is. Don't worry, it's pretty darn secluded."

"Before we leave though, I've got a gift for the two of you, Felicity and Sarah," Seiger spoke up.

"What is it?" Felicity asked in suspense.

"You know how mermen have shape shifting abilities? David here knows how to transfer it to other mermaids," he explained.

"Seriously? You know how to use ancient forbidden transfer magic?" Sarah asked surprised.

"Only a little, Zac knows it better than I do," David replied as he walked over to the sisters. He held his palms flat, touching the girls hands. Slowly but steadily his body entered Overdrive, and he chanted the words, "Eldura Heischia Lantura." The same silver glow engulfed their hands and eventually sunk into them, David's Overdrive wearing off once he was done.

"For only having been a merman for just a little under a month David, you certainly have a strong control over your powers," Felicity complimented.

Now that that was over, one by one, everyone left through the portal and stepped out onto the beach on the other side. Seiger decided to stay at the HMC and warn all the other members of their situation. The council below them now knew about it, and an issue was sent out. No mermaid was allowed to stay in the Ocean if they had legs. Everyone else was to remain in their respective homes, under their Silver Seals.

Sarah started off by looking around the rocks, trying to find the black gem that opened up the entrance. She 'aha'd when she found it, touching it and watching as the rock face opened up, showing a set of steps.

"Is this what he first found?" Evie asked herself.

"Must have been, this gem can only be seen by merpeople, to anyone else it just looks like an ordinary rock," Sarah briefly explained.

Evie summoned a ball of fire in her hand, using it to light the way down the steps. As everyone began walking down the steps, Evie went in the middle so that the light spread out evenly.

"How the heck is she able to use fire magic?" Sarah whispered to Felicity in wonder. "I thought you said that Lacrima was dead."

"She is but, we don't know ourselves how this is possible. Evie had a human father but a mermaid mother, and her mother died after giving birth to her," Felicity replied in the same whisper.

"I see."

As they reached the bottom, Evie no longer needed to use her ball of fire as the light switch had been left on. As they looked around, they saw the completely smashed tank without any water around, as well as the chains that they were previously held in.

"This is definitely where they were before," Nixie stated. "But why did they feel the need to expose us?"

"I've got a pretty good idea why," Rita spoke up. "Think about it, with us exposed, neither Land or Sea is safe for us any more. Now that people know that mermaids are out there, wouldn't you want to find one yourself? Our mission to find them has only been made harder by this fact."

"Yeah, that does make sense," Nixie replied, letting out a small huff at the end. "Great."

"What do we do now?" Sirena asked turning to Sarah, everyone else looking at her.

She thought hard on what to do for a minute, remembering something her mother taught her. "Air magic has the ability to pick up traces of foot prints, almost like dusting."

Sarah summoned a small ball of air into the palm of her hand. Kneeling down, she blew on it towards the floor, a strange white dust covering the entire area. It was made pretty clear where people had been standing, but there were a set of foot prints that intrigued her the most. They lead over to a smaller area of the room, rather hidden, with a strange device, taller than anyone in the room.

"What the heck is that?" Lyla asked herself. It almost looked like an elevator, but it had a keyboard attached to the side of it. Sarah blew some more white dust over it, discovering about 7 finger prints on 7 of they keys. As she looked at them, it was pretty clear what it spelt out.

"Lacrima?" She said to herself. "Why would they type in that word?" Sarah typed it in for herself and hit enter, watching as the doors of the elevator opened up, suddenly learning that it wasn't an elevator. Looking down it, they could see a pool of water below, it almost looked like a passage way.

"Now what would the IMH be doing with a secret passage filled with water?" Rita asked.

"Beats me," Sarah replied sighing. "But there's only one way to find out." She jumped down the hole and landed in the water below. Her tail was a brilliant pure white shade, flecks of silver appearing throughout. "You guys coming?"

One by one, they all jumped into the water, following Sarah down through the passage. It wasn't long before the very straight tunnel stopped and opened out, with nothing but water all around them. Shooting up to the surface, no-one was prepared for the sight in front of them. "Oh wow."

They almost felt like they were in the ocean, looking out onto a shore of sand. Upon the shore though, stood a humongous red and black castle. Right at the top of it was a massive spiral that looked liked it was covered in chains, barring the windows and the door that they could just make out.

Seconds later though, the chains suddenly disappeared much to everyone's shock, the door opening and closing a few seconds later, as well as the chains reappearing.

Nixie looked like she was about to move forward, so Sarah stopped her, shaking her head.

"Have you seen the shore line?"

Looking closely at it, Nixie saw a countless number of men stood by the shore, sharp weapons in hand. "So what do we do then smarty?"

"I don't know okay." Sarah took a look around the area for herself. Besides the castle on the shore, they were completed surrounded by water, and it didn't seem to end. "I think we should head back to the HMC for now."

She tried to create a white portal but to no avail. Even Felicity couldn't do it.

"Strange, we can't create portals to get back," Felicity stated.

Sirena dove under the water and looked for the tunnel that they'd just come out of, but she couldn't see anything. Coming back up she said, "that tunnel we came through, not there any more.

"I'm sorry, what do mean not there any more?" Lyla asked slightly worried.

"I looked for it but it just wasn't there," she replied.

"Okay, so it really is a case of 'now what,'" David spoke up. "We're now stuck here."

Moments later, everyone heard a strange noise in the water and dove back under to find out what it was.

They saw that another tunnel had randomly appeared. Out of pure defence, everyone turned invisible. But what came out of it, they weren't prepared for.

A merman had swum out of the tunnel, clutching a mermaid to his body. Not just any mermaid, it was Aquata. She looked weak and injured with several gashes on her tail. Sirena was trying her best not to scream or cry, so David linked their invisibility, giving her some comfort. The strangest part of all, was that the merman's tail wasn't the regular blue shade, it was purple.

They all followed them to the shore line and watched as the merman stopped part way and clicked his fingers, returning him to a human form. Once he was out of the water, he clicked his fingers again, drying off Aquata.

"So, it seems your mission was successful," one of the men on guard said.

"It was really easy actually. For a mermaid of the Higher Council, she didn't put up much of a fight," the man holding Aquata replied.

"Now now Tetrus, you know they're totally useless against Hyperos magic. Without it, I think you'd of had some trouble," another man snickered.

"Me, having trouble? If we all didn't have it, you'd still be as hopeless are you are with it," Tetrus remarked. "Also, I suggest you spend your time focusing on guarding the castle and not pissing me off!" With that said, Tetrus kicked open the castle doors and headed inside, the doors automatically closing behind him.

Heading back under the waves, they released their invisibility to have a talk.

"How on earth did they get their hands on Aquata?" Lyla asked. "I thought she was safe at the HMC?"

"Lyla, she was sent on a mission the day before this all happened in South America. She had supposedly completed it as well, so she must have been heading back when she was caught," Nixie explained giving her thoughts on the situation. "Also, those tunnels that keep on appearing probably lead to different IMH bases all over the world. If we went through one of them, the chances of us ending up in an Australian one is slim!"

"So what do we do huh?" Lyla asked in response. "Just sit here and wait until we find the right time to get inside that castle?"

Nixie was about to retort until David noticed something odd. "Hey, where did Sarah go?"

Felicity looked around for a second, she too noticing that she was gone.

To answer their question, they could make out her voice in the air.

She'd shot up to take action, floating on her air magic, now back to a human form. She was wearing the same pure white mermaid top as she had on earlier and a really long but slim white skirt. She was bare footed but had very long white sleeves that fanned out and were very poofy at the bottom.

"Now listen up here you IMH creeps!" She screamed, catching the attention of her friends and of course, the IMH men standing on the shore. "I don't know exactly what this place is, but I just saw a good friend of mine injured and getting taken into that castle. And right now, you're in for a world of pain!" Her eyes were filled with anger and rage, as she let out a deafening roar of air magic, causing most of the men to get caught in the tornado that she'd summoned to sweep around the beach. A few of them in the heat of the moment had managed to summon the same sort of purple barriers as Lucas and Richard could to protect themselves.

Sarah then used a little bit of her Air magic to bring Felicity into the air, as well as everyone else, who immediately returned to human form. "Felicity, you know what to do."

Felicity looked at the sweeping tornado, catching on to what her sister wanted her to do. She raised her hand into the air, rumbling noises and dark clouds focusing over the tornado. As she pushed her arm down, lightning strikes hit the tornado and turned in into an electric storm, badly injuring most of the men caught inside of it.

As it disappeared, the four remaining men turned their attention to the gang.

"Well well, what do we have here?" One of the asked, studying the eight floating in the air. "If it isn't Aria of Air and her little sister. Come to pay your fare wells to your friends?"

Sarah gritted her teeth and returned the stare at the four men.

Evie and Nixie couldn't help but feel that something wasn't right. There was a way too familiar a feeling with two of the men, like they knew them.

"How about some introductions? My name is Raidus, and my friends here are Kaeylum, Illiandrus and Betro," Raidus introduced. All of them were wearing masks as well, so you couldn't see their faces. There was also an incredibly thick tension in the air, as nothing happened. "No introduction in return?"

"Why do I need to give one?" Sarah spitted. "You already know me and my sis. It's not like there's anyone else super important here?"

Everyone else turned and stared at Sarah in almost disgust. "Well you aren't a very old mermaid or her sis are you now?" Sarah gave in and pointed to everyone, naming them one by one. "Fine! We've got, David, Sirena, Rita, Lyla, Nixie and Evie. Happy now, Raidus?"

"Very," he replied with a short bow. "Might I ask you how you even ended up here?"

Sarah didn't respond by words and just shot a burst of Air magic at him, Raidus summoning a barrier to dispel it. "Now that wasn't very cooperative was it? I'm only trying to save some blood shed here." He looked at Kaeylum and nodded his head. "So if won't cooperate, we'll just have to kill you."

* * *

**- Back to when the chains on the tower were removed -**

At this point in time, it was Lucas and Richard who opened the door along with Zac, Isis and Tanya in their arms.

They stepped inside the open circular room, the door closing behind them and the chains on the tower reappearing.

Inside the room, was a lone chair and a table. Upon the table was a spiral shell alongside various vials of liquid that were a strange purple colour, and sitting in the chair, was a long haired blonde female woman.

"Good afternoon Lady Lucy," Richard said bowing to her, dropping Zac and Isis to the floor. Lucas followed in pursuit, dropping Tanya as well.

"Afternoon boys. I see you've brought me the bodies I was searching for," Lucy replied standing up from her chair, walking over to look at Zac. She picked him up and forced his eye lids open, noticing how black his pupils were. "How much Jellyfish Anthranox did you give him? He looks good to be asleep for another day at least."

"Sorry about that, might have gotten carried away with it a little," Lucas apologised.

"It doesn't matter too much, but what does matter now, is cooperation with them once they wake up. I suppose a little Toxicated Harshen won't hurt them to speed up the process," Lucy said to herself idly. Harshen is basically a toxin used to remove any of the Anthranox liquids and powders. For example, Jellyfish Anthranox, which is known as knock-out liquid, and Mirror Anthranox, the watching powder. "Lucien, can you make me some Toxicated Krassa as well, it'll help keep him a little doped up when he's awake. You still have some Ilax Herbs for Morocco right?"

"Yep, always keep 'em spare," Lucas replied taking one of the herbs out of his pocket. He walked over to the table and unscrewed a vial of the Harshen, dropping the Ilax herb into it, watching as the liquid turned from purple to bright blue.

Lucy grabbed a separate vial of Harshen and jabbed it into Zac's neck, releasing the liquid into him. Just a split second later, Lucas injected the vial of Ilax herb Harshen into his body.

A few minutes later, Zac eventually stirred, even though he felt dopy, drugged up and tired. "Where the heck am I?" He asked himself as he tried to stand up off of the floor.

He was greeted by Lucy as he did so, Zac trying to register who she was.

"Who are you?" He asked, his words a little slurred.

"Don't worry Zac, my name is Lucy Karleum, but you can just call me by something a little more familiar, Lacrima."

* * *

**Karen: Okay going to have to stop you here myself**

**Sarah: Aww, why did you stop? I was so ready to see myself fighting it out with those IMH guys.**

**Karen: I'm saving that battle for the next chapter when things will get a little complicated. I'll put it this way, next chapter will make you forget everything you knew about this chapter and some of the previous ones. The story is about to take a massive flip and many harsh truths will be revealed, and the 'true' part of this story will be revealed.**

**It could be a little while, but I'll try my best to get it posted quickly for you ;)**

**Love Karen xxx**


	7. Eradia's Revival

**Karen: Hello again, I've returned from the land of the dead to bring you Chapter 7!**

**Lacrima: Why would you say from the land of the dead?**

**Karen: Oh... I uh- might have stayed up one whole night to finish this game called Lightning Returns... it drove me mad running around with time limits! Without pausing time, it can be done is a possible time window of 36-50 hours... takes me over a hundred each time due to being a perfectionist**

**Lacrima: As nice as it is for you to fritter your time away like that, shouldn't you be focusing on this story?**

**Karen: Oops, I'll just get on with it then**

* * *

Chapter 7: Eradia's Revival

"Lacrima?" Zac asked weakly, as he suddenly fell back onto his knees, unable to stand up much longer. The name at that moment sounded so familiar. He managed to open his eyes enough to get a decent look at the woman in front of him.

She had incredibly long blonde hair, tied back into a pony tail nonetheless. Whilst one of her eyes was an ocean blue shade, the other was a fiery red shade, and had a flame shaped scar over it. She was wearing a long sleek red velvet dress with a slit down the left side, starting at just below her hip and also wasn't wearing anything on her feet.

Zac was racking his brain to desperately try and remember why he could remember that name so much. Sadly, the Toxicated Krassa was dumbing him down, repressing his memories a little as well.

"Say, how exactly strong are those Ilax herbs you picked up?" Lacrima asked, turning to Lucas. "Did you get them recently or what?"

"I got them about two months back, they should be still fairly strong, I kept those ones is storage and only took 'em out a week ago," Lucas explained.

"Hang on a sec," Richard intervened. "Didn't you put that set in storage and then get out some of the older ones?"

The three of them argued on over the issue for another good 5 minutes, which was just long enough for Lucas' not-so-fresh Toxicated Krassa to wear off.

"Lacrima, as in Lucy Karleum, Evie's mother!?" Zac suddenly shouted as he rose back up onto his feet, his eyes full of anger. He looked her directly in the eyes. "Why aren't you dead?"

Lucy blinked at him a few times. "Me, a mother?" She suddenly began to laugh, which only made Zac even more angry. "I think you'll find that I haven't had any children in the last few hundred years that I've been alive, switching from body to body."

"What about Bill huh? Your husband?" Zac asked, his anger replaced by confusion.

"Bill? I don't know a Bill," Lucy replied. "I don't even recall ever being married," she thought out loud.

Zac suddenly lashed out at her, firing an ice dagger towards her. Lucy just held out her palm, fire erupting from it, melting the ice.

"That isn't going to work here," she said as she waved her finger at him. "You'll need more than just magic to take me out."

He decided that if magic wasn't going to cut it, hopefully brute force would. He lunged towards her, fist ready to hit her face. In a very sudden movement though, Lucy grabbed his hand and pushed him down the floor, resting her foot firmly upon his body, Zac unable to get up. For a woman, she was certainly stronger than him.

Zac managed to move his hand in order to create a small ice dagger which he fired into her ankle, Lucy letting out a little cry as a small bit of blood seeped out from the fresh wound.

As Zac stood up again, he was ready to give it another shot. As he ran forward, he was greeted by a barrier that Lucas and Richard had summoned around him, the same ones they used to protect themselves.

"Damn it," he muttered under his breath as he readied himself.

"Right, I'm open for question time now," Lucy announced. "I presume you want to know how I'm still alive?"

She didn't get a response from it, but it was more than clear by his face that he wanted to know.

"All those years ago when I supposedly had my soul torn apart by the other Egyptian Pod, it's half right. Yeah they ripped it apart alright, but not before taking a small bit for themselves. As small as it was though, it was enough to bring me back into a newborn body. The only downside was that I didn't have any of my previous memories, and my old bodies. It was as if I was a true newborn child. Years and years went by and I still had no memory of my past, but my soul eventually repaired itself, and became whole once more."

"Okay, so then why are you here with the IMH? You're a mermaid all the same right?" Zac questioned.

"That's easy," she responded. "I'm working with them."

Zac couldn't quite a believe it. A mermaid was working with an organization who's goal is to kill mermaids? It didn't make any sense.

"Why?"

Lucy briefly glanced over to Lucien and Rick who nodded their heads.

"Let me put it this way Zac. They needed my help in order to complete the Eradia Archelist prophecy. Not so much as the chosen vessel, but more or so as the organiser, a mermaid who could get on the inside and find out who was most suitable as the vessel, and claim her as the chosen one," Lucy explained. "And before you even ask it again, I don't know any one called Evie or Bill. I would just drop the thought."

Zac scowled. How could she not remember. She gave birth to David and then had Bill's child Evie, that's not something one should just forget like that, or having a husband, someone who she would have loved deeply with all of her heart. Nothing really made sense, even after some explanations.

A few moments later, the door to the tower was busted open, and Tetrus walked in with Aquata slung over his shoulder. Tetrus was a rather tall and handsome man, and he had a gorgeous tan. He had short matt-black hair, that was super fluffy, and he had a small bit of stubble for a beard. His eyes were a bright green shade and he was wearing nothing but a pair of white baggy trousers. Well, he had a sword attached to the side of them but you know.

He briefly bowed down to Lucy. "Greetings Lady Lucy, I managed to get your vessel much earlier than expected, hope you don't mind."

"No no Tetrus, it's fine," Lucy assured him. "Thank you so much for finding her, hope she wasn't too much trouble."

"Please, she was almost too easy to take down!" Tetrus laughed as he placed her down on the floor, Zac managing to catch a glimpse of her face.

"Aquata?" He said to himself breathlessly. Sirena's sister was going to be Eradia's vessel?

"It's exactly what you think it is," Lucy spoke up. "She is Eradia's vessel, the eventually chosen one."

Zac gritted his teeth. Just how many more people was she going to bring into this. First she couldn't remember having a husband or two children, and now she was using on his friends sisters as the vessel? Zac has just about had it today.

Tetrus finally looked to the side to see Zac still stuck in the barrier. "Who's this guy? A merman?"

"Pretty much. He's not a pure natural born but he's the best I've got right now," Lucy replied. "Zac, meet Tetrus, my second in command and by far the strongest man in the IMH."

"Pleasure," he joked as he bowed to Zac, who just looked away from him. "He's not very friendly is he?"

"Would you be inclined to be friendly if you found out your girlfriend's mother doesn't know who she is and that she's trying to destroy Mako Island?" Zac asked, trying not to let his anger take over.

Tetrus knew exactly who Zac was talking about, but decided not to say anything on it. "From your perspective, I can see why you're not happy."

"Tetrus," Lucy chipped. "Don't fall for the sweet talk, you're done with your mission and for now you can leave."

He looked over to Zac one last time before he walked back out of the tower door.

* * *

**- Back on the beach -**

Everyone had split up to take down the four IMH men more easily. Sarah took on Raidus alone whilst Felicity took Kaeylum. That left Nixie, Lyla and Rita to take on Illiandrus whilst Sirena, David and Evie took on Betro.

They'd had some difficulties in their choosing. Sarah was of course a woman of the Air, and Raidus just had to specialise in Air magic too. Between them, they'd created a protective wind barrier to fight in so that they didn't destroy anything else. After all, you put one and one together in tornado's and you just end up making one three times as powerful. Raidus also had his Hyperos magic on his side, a forbidden lost magic, something that no-one had a counter for.

Raidus would have just trapped her in a barrier and had done with her, but when he tried to do that, Sarah just used her magic to blast a hole through the sand and escaped.

With Felicity, Kaeylum was trying his best to freeze her with Ice magic, but Felicity was just too fast for him. She was hit several times by the ice which slowed her down, but she regained speed fast enough. The only thing she could do was try and use her Hydro-cryokinesis to melt his oncoming attacks, and try and get close enough to hit him physically up front.

Illiandrus and Betro on the other hand had no speciality in any element. Between the eight that were fighting, it was going nowhere. Everyone was fending off everyone's attacks and not a single blow had been landed yet. It didn't help that no-one fighting could touch them since they kept on summoning Hpyeros barriers to guard off their attacks.

Rita, Lyla, Sirena and David all use their magic to send a wall of water flying over Illiandrus and Betro's heads. They both naturally defend themselves at the last second using a Hyperos barrier. Once it disappears, they discovered it takes a little bit of time to come back. The second they did disappear, Evie and Nixie ran head on at the two, and managed to almost get a punch on both of them. The men grabbed their hands though and eventually managed to toss them back.

Nixie and Evie had also managed to get an even better look at their faces, and by now, they were dead certain on who these men where.

"Ivan?" Nixie asked looking at Illiandrus.

"Dad?" Evie asked looking at Betro.

Both men stood still, completely silenced.

Both the other fights had stopped as well, everyone in shock for different reasons.

Illiandrus and Betro both drew weapons from their sheaths and imbued them with some Hyperos magic, and sent them flying right at Raidus and Kaeylum. Unlike other magic, Hyperos cannot cancel itself out and nothing else can take it out, making it a formidable forbidden magic. Both weapons hit Raidus and Kaeylum right in the heart, a strong shattering sound filling the air. Within moments, their skin began to turn grey as did their hair. 1000 years of ageing suddenly rained down upon them, their bodies turning into ashes, leaving only the skeletons and the weapons that hit them.

There was now a thick tension in the air, and no-one dared to speak first.

"Someone care to tell me what's going on here?" Evie asked in a very authoritative voice. "Just who exactly are you?" She looked deep into the eyes of both Betro and Illiandrus.

Neither answered for a minute before Illiandrus finally spoke up.

"We were afraid of this happening," he stated.

"That's not what she was asking," Nixie scowled. "Answer us, who are you?"

They didn't want to admit that they'd been found out, but in this situation they had no choice.

"We may be known as Illiandrus and Betro, but our real names are Ivan Donovan and Bill Karleum," Betro said, trying not to look at Evie.

Both Nixie and Evie stood there in pure shock. They were who they though they were. Ivan Donovan, father of Cameron Donovan and Bill Karleum, father of Evie Karleum.

"Listen we can explain what's going on here-" Ivan began to say before Nixie interrupted him.

"Yeah you'd better damn well explain what's going on here! Ivan why on earth are you working for the IMH?! Same goes for you Bill!"

Neither could respond right at that moment.

"Let us begin by say that we are eternally sorry for this. We are indeed the fathers of Cam and Evie, and we are members of the IMH, we've been like that since 1044 years ago when the first Eradia Archelist prophecy ended," Ivan started to explained.

"Back all those many years ago, we were part of an experiment known as Hyperos, which is the magic we use. 100 test subjects had a crystal implanted into their hearts, this crystal being part of a massive one called Hypera, found in the darkest part of the Ocean near the North Pacific Ocean. The crystal itself had amazing potential, so much so that all 100 test subjects survived the transplant into their hearts. It was discovered, that the crystals had anti-ageing properties as none of us could age past the sort of thirties of our lives. Over time, the crystals let us use its magic, known as Hyperos. Not only could it dispel all other kinds of known magic, but it couldn't even be cancelled out by itself. It was basically magic with invincibility," Bill explained.

"Years upon years went by, and the IMH was formed out of the 100 who had Hyperos Hearts. Essentially, we vowed to destroy the mermaid race who'd pushed us away for our strange magic, not welcomed us at all and outcast us from the Ocean. We spent most of our time on land, many of us changing our names as a disguise, yet keeping them close to our original names, though some did not. Raidus always went by Flynn and Kaeylum by Tom. Even so, we grew jealous of our outcast, and many of us sought revenge on them. We banded together and formed the IMH," Ivan carried on.

"After living for another 1000 years though, some of us grew board of hunting down mermaids, but two people within the IMH completely took control of everything," Bill began. "About 18 year before today, I met Lucy."

**- Flash back -**

_War had begun yet again between the two Russian pods and Lucy had fled from Egypt entirely. After what had seemed like days of swimming to her, she finally ended up where she was told to flee to. The Gold Coast._

_She looked upon the shore, seeing that no-one was around, and dragged herself onto the beach. As she was doing so though, she felt a sharp claw go into her body. She traced it all the way up to a terrifying sight. The claw was attached to a spear that had been thrown at her by a man who was hiding behind the rocks, Bill. Not only that, but she could clearly see the IMH tattoo across the centre of his chest._

_Fear completely took over but she was unable to move._

_Fate was on her side though, as something within Bill began to waver. Mermaids were his sworn enemy, but he was falling head over heels immediately for this one. He ran over to her and pulled the claw out of her body, using some Hyperos to heal over the wound as best he could._

_He then picked Lucy up and dried her off with one click of his fingers._

_"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," he tried to assure then._

_"Then why did you stab me? You're from the IMH right, I thought you hunted mermaids like us?" Lucy stumbled out in fear._

_"It was a natural reaction and I'm sorry," Bill apologised. "I uh, took it out and healed you once I fully saw your face, I must say you are beautiful." It was only then that he'd gotten a better look at her and noticed her red eye. "Lacrima?"_

_Lucy looked shocked for a moment. "How did you know who I am?"_

_"I remembered when I once met an old incarnation of yours, one who was oblivious about us for her young age back then," Bill explained. "And from the looks of it, you've ran away from your home haven't you?"_

_Lucy looked away for a moment. "I didn't run away, I had to leave. The two pods began fighting again, and they told me to come to the Gold Coast and seek refuge."_

_Bill thought on it for a moment before placing her down on the sand._

_"Why not come stay with me for a while?" He asked._

_Lucy looked rather not amused by the idea._

_"Don't worry. No IMH stuff from now on, besides, there's only one other man in the IMH here and I swear I'll protect you with my life to make sure he doesn't hurt you."_

_Lucy didn't quite know what to say. Someone was offering her refuge, someone who should have been trying to kill her. Maybe the world wasn't such a bad place after all._

_"Alright, I'll take you up on than offer, um-" Lucy replied, realising she didn't know his name._

_"Bill. My name is Bill," he stated._

_"What about your real name?" Lucy asked._

_Bill looked at her confused for a minute, before realising what she meant. "It's no offence, but as of today, I'm leaving that name behind."_

**- End of flash back -**

"Wait so if you stopped all your IMH activities, then what are you doing here?" Rita asked

* * *

**- Meanwhile, back up in the tower -**

Aquata and Zac were now chained up on the wall, side by side, held by magic chain locks, the ones that can't be broken except by human hands, and no mere human could reach Arcosta. (Arcosta is the name given to the castle and the protected island that it's situated on.) Elicia and Marina were still out from the Jellyfish Anthranox, shoved to one side of the room in a pile.

"Well boys, if we are all ready, there's no reason why we can't put time forward a little," Lucy smirked.

The two immediately caught on to what she meant. "Use the Time Keeper's spell to zip forward 2 and a half days with about one minute until Eradia is set to awake."

The Time Keeper's spell, out of all of the forbidden magic, is the most dangerous and comes out number one on the not-to-be-use list. It can move time forward by a set amount for those of the right authority, power and control. It was actually a little hard to call it a spell because it was not their magic they were using, but a god's. Mermaid's believed they had a god, and soon came to learn that there were other gods too, one of the most important being Testralla, Goddess of Time itself. She had the power to shift time when called upon, but unless the people calling her had enough energy to withstand the force of it, and also break off the flow of time, then disaster would occur. There aren't many cases of usage of the spell due to it's danger. The world once lost a fair few days due to these three and their testing.

Lucy, Lucas and Richard stood together in a triangular shape in the middle of the room, connecting hands, and raising them up. It was a good five minutes before the three of them felt the connection needed for the spell to work, and once complete, they spoke together at once.

"Oh great Testralla of the stars and heavens, grant us thine divine power. Shift the clocks, abandon all that once was in order to move forward. As but loyal servants, let your unrestrained rage flow, and allow us to stop it for the greater good."

Beneath their feet, a clock had appeared on the floor, and slowly but steadily, the clock hands began moving forward, the world around them becoming a strange blur, distortion every where.

"Damn it, I don't know if I can hold on!" Lucas screamed as his body began to feel weak.

"You've gotta hang in there, another minute and then we break the seal to stop this massive flow!" Lucy screamed back at him.

Sure enough, another minute later, they had roughly the time they were looking for. The three of them pulled apart from each other, the clock on the floor disappearing and the world around them returning to its normal looking self.

Lucas glanced down at his watch. "Awe man!"

"How close did we get?" Richard asked in anticipation.

"We went 10 minutes out," Lucas sighed. "10 minutes before Eradia can enter her vessel."

Lucy herself sighed on it for a moment. "It's not too big of a deal, we just wait patiently."

* * *

**- Before the time shift, back on the shore -**

"Wait, you were forced back into this because of a drug!?" Evie checked in shock.

Both men nodded their heads.

"Yes, Lucien and Rick are more troubling than they look. On the day you were born, they broke in and drugged Lucy up, giving her a false memory. No children, no husband, just the will to want to complete the Eradia Archelist prophecy. With the right Anthranox drugs, it was inevitable. However, they did not drug up any other members. For now, me and Ivan have just been going along with their plan, acting on their orders so that we might be able to find a way to stop them. And now that you're all here, we might be able to do it in time. Lacrima is up in that tower, along with Elicia and Marina, and Aria is here with us. Do any of you know what a Memory Meta-code is?" Bill asked.

"That sounds... familiar," Evie said to herself.

"The exposure," Rita said slowly as she began to remember where she'd heard it. "Memory Meta-code 237,429, release."

"Good, so you do know what it is," Ivan cheered.

"Not entirely. We've heard it but we don't know what it does," Sirena replied sheepishly.

"Oh. It's simple really. I'm sure you've all heard of a strange thing called Memory Changing Powder, or it's real name, Eraser Anthranox. Each memory that is taken away is stored within something known as a Memory Meta-code. If someone says those words along with the corresponding number and release, then the false memory is taken away and the real memory returns, like the Anthranox was never used in the first place," Ivan explained. "This is why we came back to the IMH, we've spent ages looking for the right code, and now, we've finally found it, code 32,879. And yes, the numbers are ascending as to how many times it's been used before, pretty big numbers."

When Ivan finished his explanation, everyone felt the world around them become a swirling blur, distortion filling the air, everyone feeling rather sick.

"What the heck is this!?" Lyla screamed as she tried to focus on not being sick.

"We're in trouble, it's Testralla's time spell, it's used to shift time forward!" Bill screamed back. He knew that up in the tower, Lacrima, Lucien and Rick must be using it for Eradia to get as close to the right time they need as possible.

"To help them get closer to the prophecy time," Aria said under her breath. No-one else could hear her above all the noise around them.

Within a minute or so, the distortion faded, leaving everyone with banging headaches.

"We need to get up to that tower, now! No time to explain!" Ivan announced as he and Bill ran up to the castle doors, kicking them open and running inside, everyone else in tow behind them.

"I don't know how long we've got, we might be too late," Bill said in staggered breaths.

"What do you mean?" Evie breathed back.

"They've already got they body that they need, all they need now is time," he replied.

Sirena thought on that for a second. "You don't mean, they're going to use Aquata, my sister?!"

"I'm so sorry Sirena, but it seems they are," Ivan replied in a sad tone. Him and Bill had to use the Memory Meta-code to release Lacrima before it was too late. But then again, for all they knew, it might have already been to late.

* * *

**- Back in the tower, only one minute to go -**

"Not long now," Lucas sang as he glanced down at his watch. One minute to go until Eradia would arise out of her shell and enter Aquata's body. Aquata was now fully awake, but was under the influence of some slightly fresher Krassa Harshen.

Eradia's shell began to glow with a strange white light, and a small orb rose out of it, floating around until it stared at Lacrima.

"Tell me," the orb spoke, "who is my new body?"

Lacrima simply pointed to Aquata, the orb seeming to notice her.

Outside, Ivan and Bill began to remove the chains from the tower, managing to open the door.

This of course shocked everyone in the room, including the slightly dumbed down Aquata who could just make out her sister.

"Sirena," she called in a desperate low tone.

"Aquata!" Sirena cried as she saw her sister chained to the wall, the strange floating orb that was Eradia heading towards her.

Sirena suddenly made a mad dash towards her sisters body, putting herself in front of Aquata, Eradia not stopping, and entering Sirena's body, her body suddenly slumping to the floor, a white glow engulfing her body.

"Sirena!" David cried, about to make a run towards her. He was pulled back by Ivan.

"It's no use," he told David.

Everyone stood and watched in anticipation for the white glow to disappear.

When it did, you couldn't even tell it was Sirena any more. Eradia stood up, admiring her new body. Eradia had long flowing white hair, which was rather curly, and almost touched the floor. She was wearing, was a simple long black dress with white frills on the bodice, shoulders straps, and base of the dress. One of her arms had a long white glove on, going over the elbow whilst the other one didn't even reach her elbow. She had nothing on her feet, but in her right hand, was a spear pole, that looked like it was drenched in water, a few drops falling off of the tip of the spear.

"Well, it wasn't the body I was hoping for," Eradia stated as she looked at Aquata who was still hung up by her chains. Aquata was also now wide awake, the white glow seemed to have stopped the Harshen from working, same thing went for Zac, Isis and Tanya who were now all wide awake. "But it will do nonetheless."

Eradia then turned her attention to Lucien and Rick.

"Well well, this is something I never thought I'd see again. If it isn't Lucien and Rick, the ones who got me back in my shell are the ones who now helped me get out of it, I must thank you," Eradia said as she lightly bowed to them.

"Please, the pleasure is all ours, after all, once we're done with the prophecy, we must thank you," Rick replied, bowing to her in return.

Eradia turned her body once more, this time towards the wide awake Zac hung up by his chains next to Aquata.

"Am I right in thinking you're the merman who's going to be destroyed so that Mako Island can fall?" Eradia asked him. Zac didn't say anything and watched as Eradia raised her spear, looking like she was ready to toss it at him.

"Aria, you said that if another merman other than the one who's originally chosen dies instead, there is a chance that the prophecy won't come true right?" David asked her.

"Yes," Aria replied nervously. It then hit her. "No don't even think about it!"

"Too late," David replied as he wriggled free of Ivan's grasp and ran to stand arms wide in front of Zac.

At that moment, Eradia tossed her spear directly towards Zac, David making it just in time as the spear hit him instead, towards his heart. For a few seconds, David felt very faint as his eyes rolled over, his body slumping and falling to the ground, the water from the spear head transforming him as he hit the floor.

No-one in the room said a single word as they watched the events unfold, tears being brought to a lot of people's eyes.

Within Eradia, Sirena could see everything that was going on. She screamed as loud as she could for Eradia to stop once she saw David run to cover Zac, but it was no use. She was forced to watch David fall the ground, almost certain that he would never get back up.

For some reason, Eradia herself began crying, her eyes wide with fear, almost like Sirena was. Seconds later, she let out a massive scream of pain and suffering, the same white glow covering her body again.

Lucien and Rick grinned widely together. This was exactly what they wanted to happen. With this, they could carry out 'The End.'

* * *

**Karen: Ah, cliffhangers.**

***Entire cast of Mako Mermaids staring at her with an evil glare***

**Karen: What? Yes I know, I just got someone killed. It was going to happen eventually, but this is nothing compared to what's going to happen in the chapters to come. **

**Next chapter, we'll find out about 'The End' and what Rick and Lucien are really up to. See you all soon ;) xxx**


	8. Prophecy - The End

**Karen: I'm back yet again, and I bring the glorious Chapter 8 with me**

***Mako cast still sulking over David***

**Karen: Oh get over it! You've got a lot to think about this Chapter!**

**Hope you all enjoy it as usual ^_^ As for the Chapter name, it's not the end of the story!**

* * *

Chapter 8: Prophecy - The End

It took ages before the white glow surrounding Eradia faded. Once it had, the white orb rose out of its body and fled back to the shell sitting on the table. What once was Eradia's appearance, returned to plain old Sirena, standing there, trembling at the sight before her. Everyone around her was focused with all eyes on her and David. Sirena steadily looked down at her hands, crying in fear of what she had done. If she hadn't of interfered for her sister's sake, David might have still been alive.

Suddenly, Sirena collapsed to the ground, almost like she had fainted from all the pressure.

For a moment, no-one in the room or just outside of it dared to move a muscle. Something had gone wrong with the prophecy. David had died in placement of Zac, and now Eradia had forced herself back into her shell. If it was Aquata as the vessel, things might have been different.

Lucien and Rick exchanged a quick glance to each other, though this had not gone unnoticed by Zac, still chained up on the wall trying to keep his tears in.

Rick walked over to the shell slowly and picked it up, giving it a shake. "Come on Eradia, get back out of your damn shell right now! We've worked too hard for you to just bottle yourself back up inside of it and not finish the prophecy!"

He continued to shake it for a few seconds before giving up.

"Well, looks like we've lost," he stated, sounding slightly sarcastic. He turned to Lucien and let out a small laugh, Lucien in turn starting to laugh as well. Moments later, both of them were in hysterics, not a single person understanding why they were laughing like maniacs right now.

Lucien stopped his laughter and grabbed another one of the vials off of the table, more Jellyfish Anthranox and jabbed it right into the side of scared Lucy's neck.

Realising what he'd done, she turned his head to him just in time to see his creepy grin. "Why would you-" she began to say before the Anthranox took full effect, her vision darkening and her body slumping to the floor.

"Lacrima!" Sarah cried as she saw her old friend and supposed companion of Lucien and Rick fall down under the drug. "Why would you do that to her? I thought she was your mistress, your master?"

Rick let out another small laugh. "Oh, you have no idea just how much trouble you're all in right now do you?"

Seconds after he'd finished his sentence, Rita, Lyla and Nixie suddenly reverted to their mermaid forms, even the unconscious Sirena did. Zac also randomly entered Overdrive mode, but as much as he thought of stopping it, he was unable to get out of it. Tough the actual golden glow of Overdrive was quite faint, his eyes remained the same bright gold shade, and his finned ear stayed the same too. Aquata's tail also appeared as well.

"What the hell's going on here?" Zac asked, still pushing away the tears, not able to look away from David's body, blood now starting to trickle out of his wound, and at a rather rapid speed.

* * *

**- A few moments before the above, back on the shore of the Gold Coast -**

It had been quite a nice day out otherwise, many people were out on the beach enjoying the glorious warmth of the sunshine, splashing about in the waves.

Though, in the moments back in Arcosta, when Eradia went back into her shell, the skies darkened and many black clouds began surrounding the distant Mako Island.

Nick, who was on Lifeguard duty at the time had seen the sudden darkness over Mako Island, and began to wonder what was going on.

"Don't tell me," he whispered to himself as a massive thunderbolt shot down from the clouds and struck Mako Island, practically over the head of the Moon Pool. The thunderbolt wasn't a regular colour either, it was a bright blue/ white shade, almost the same colour as the light that the Moon Rings emitted.

The shock from the bolt headed throughout the entire of the Island and sent a pulsing shock over the Ocean towards the shore of the Gold Coast. Nick could see it coming and alerted everyone. "Get out the water, now!"

Everyone headed his advice and made their way to the shore. Just as the last person was out, the blue shock wave had breached the shore, but did not come across the land, instead, it shot upwards and almost made a very faint barrier.

Nick slowly but steadily walked towards the barrier and placed his hand upon it, a faint flash of purple heading across where the barrier was now formed. He could never had anticipated that this moment in time would ever happen.

"Nick, what's going on here?" John, the newer recruit, asked him with concern.

He didn't quite know how to answer at first, but decided in the end, to partially tell the truth. "Mako Island, is falling."

"What do mean falling?" John asked, thoroughly confused by Nick's response.

"You heard me, it's falling. Unknown forces are sinking it. We will not see it ever again."

"What about this strange glow then?" John walked over to where Nick was, and placed his hand upon the barrier, a faint flash of blue heading across it, much like when Nick had touched it.

"It's a barrier," Nick replied, touching it again for himself. John was a little confused when Nick touched it.

"Why is it when you touch it, the barrier comes up purple?"

Nick couldn't respond to his question, there was no way John could know the truth right now.

"I'll explain it to you once this is all over. What I need you to do, is hold down the fort, make sure everyone is evacuated from this strip of beach." Nick then began sprinting away to his home, to grab his car.

"Hey, where are you going?!" John shouted as Nick began running home. He was so far away that Nick didn't hear him at all.

He just kept on running, and quickly grabbed his keys from his pockets, opened his car door, and revved out of the drive as quickly as possible. He knew exactly where he was heading.

A few minutes later, he was outside of the rock face where the IMH base was. He swiftly found the black gem and bolted it down the steps into the base. When he was inside, he searched for the passage system and entered the password to open it up.

He looked down at the water below him, preparing to jump. "I never though I'd have to come back to this place."

Meanwhile, back on the beach, John had gotten everyone to leave the area, leaving just himself. He turned around one last time to look over at Mako Island, and felt an insane rumble run through the shore line and looked up to see that the waves had turned very choppy. Within moments, Mako Island had begun to sink, just as Nick said it would. He stood in pure silence, and watched as the mysterious island sank under the waves.

Mako Island, was no more.

* * *

**- Back inside the tower -**

"It's finally happened!" Lucien grinned as he grabbed Eradia's shell. "The End had begun!"

Rick proceeded by placing a barrier around Elicia and Marina, and one around the group in the door way. After all, Hyperos magic cannot be broken by its own kind, trapping Ivan, Bill, Evie and Aria.

Lucien fired a shot of Hyperos at the back wall, creating a massive hole which he and Rick jumped out of, landing directly into the water, the tower being closer to the shore than first though. A lot like Tetrus, both men also had purple tails once they hit the water.

Lucien and Rick had begun swimming far away from the shore, Eradia's shell tucked under Lucien's arm.

"You know there's only going to be about 10 minutes before those barriers wear off right?" Rick asked.

"I know that. But it's not like they'll be going anywhere, four of them can't move, one of them is still under drugs, and the two in magic lock chains won't escape even if the girls touch them, I barred them with a small bit of Hyperos, so even when they touch them, they won't break, the Hyperos will make the chains seem like someone with magic is touching it," Lucien explained.

"Lucien... you do realise the Hyperos will fade away don't you?"

"Of course I do, but by then they'll have given up all hope of breaking free of those chains!" Lucien then swept his right arm in front of him, shouting, "Olcultus!" One of the passage ways then appeared in front of them, swimming right through it.

At this moment in time, Nick had entered the passage way from the Gold Coast and made it into the water just in time to see Rick swim through the passage way, that entrance closing when he went through. He gritted his teeth and swam as fast as he could to the shore, immediately running onto the shore and heading straight through the doors of the castle, up towards the tower, seeing as how it was unchained right now.

Up in the tower, Ivan and Bill were having a very hard time explaining what was going on.

The only strange thing to occur, was that the girls realised they had no powers at all, and couldn't revert back to being human. After trying to use their powers, they felt rather faint, and much like Sirena, went into an unconscious state, not dead though.

Ivan began first.

"There's no other way to explain this really. There is another prophecy besides Eradia Archelist, but this one relies on its failure. 1044 years ago was a different matter, it changed itself to shape its success, and this time, it's remained that Eradia was to shed blood on Mako Island, and make it fall. After fleeing back into her shell, it triggered what it known as 'The End' prophecy, and it sounds as bad as it is. Once Eradia flees back to her shell, Mako Island sinks and all magic from the Island disappears. This is why the girls suddenly had their tails reappear, and also why they have no powers. With all the magic from Mako Island gone, there is no way for them to turn human again. We'll have to get them to water soon though, or they will die. But right now, we're trapped in these barriers and Aquata is locked in magic chains, no-one here is now awake and without magic."

There was one thing that struck Zac as odd in all of this. "So why hasn't my tail appeared then huh? My source of power came from Mako Island as well."

This was true. Zac's powers were indeed sourced from Mako Island, and the girls had transformed back again. It suddenly struck Bill why he was still in human form.

"Overdrive. You were once human, you weren't a natural born human child. Your Overdrive state right now is what's stopping you from regaining your tail and losing your powers. If you're Overdrive stops, then you've expended all of the powers that you're still human side can give to you."

"And it's pretty obvious why no-one else has transformed," Ivan butted in. "The four elemental girls don't come from Mako including Felicity, and Evie and David are children of Lucy, therefore, their power comes from Egypt. So in total, me, Bill, Evie, Aria, Felicity, Elicia, Marina and Zac are the only ones here who can still fight. Rick and Lucien will have fled to Olcultus. For when Mako Island falls, the ancient bare ground known as Olcultus will rise. There, they will destroy Eradia's shell, where immense power will flow throughout the world and sap all of the life force from all other pods. Without the Moon Pool's power from the world, the Ocean's will become unstable and every last bit of life as we know it, will be swept underwater, and the world will be no more."

The sudden realisation of the world ending had hit everyone hard.

"Damn it! If only I could get out of these chains!" Zac shouted as he curled his fingers to touch them. To everyone's surprise, both chains shattered and Zac ended up with his face hitting the floor.

"No way," Ivan muttered to himself. "Overdrive isn't recognised as Magic, that's how they broke."

Zac then touched the chains on his ankles, rising to his feet with a massive grin on his face. "It doesn't make any sense to be but I'll take this as a good thing."

Ivan smiled at him. "Mind trying out these barriers? I've got a feeling your human magic might do us some good here."

Zac was a little confused by what Ivan meant, but he touched the barrier nonetheless, a little shocked when it shattered.

"Now I thought you said that no type of magic could overcome Hyperos?" Evie asked, glaring slightly at her father.

"Hey give me a break here. I don't know much about Overdrive other than it's a subconscious state, I didn't think its magic could break Hyperos."

Zac then proceeded by breaking Aquata's chains, lowering her gently to the floor, and then breaking the barrier surrounding Elicia and Marina, both thanking him as they joined the other group.

"There is one other thing I would like to do before we leave," Ivan announced, then turning his attention to Evie. "I need you to do a soul swap with your mother."

"Huh?" This response came from pretty much everyone.

"Let me put it this way, the only safe way to destroy that shell, is for the four elemental originals to use their magic together, and without Lacrima, we ain't gonna be able to do that. If you do a soul swap with her, you'll gain her powers, and temporarily become the host for Lacrima's soul."

Evie could see what he was getting onto, she would become Lacrima in the process.

"How do I do it?" She asked in an authoritative voice.

Bill smiled at his daughter, glad to see that she was prepared to do so. He reached into his pocket and took out a red diamond shaped crystal. It wasn't exactly thick, but is was very long. "It's a little risky, you'll need to plunge one end into Lucy's heart, and then pierce the other half into yours. Once you do so, the crystal should light up and exchange your souls. Because Lucy is out cold, she'll feel no pain, but you'll have to endure it."

Evie's face turned a little sour when she heard that she would have to bare the pain to make this happen. She snatched the crystal out of her father's hand, knowing full well that she would just have to accept it and get along with it.

She knelt down next to her mother and plunged one end of the crystal into her heart and prepared to pierce the other half into her own heart. "Here goes nothing!"

When she pierced her heart, at first she didn't feel any pain from the crystal, but once it lit up, she could feel herself flittering on the edge of life and death. She didn't scream, but it felt like her soul was wasting away, even though it was only passing through the crystal.

She felt a pair of strong hands come to her shoulder, and even though she didn't turn around, she knew that Zac was supporting her.

"Just hang in there," he told her in a soft calming voice.

A minute later, the crystal stopped glowing and Evie pulled it out of their hearts, noticing how Lacrima's scar was gone. She turned to Zac, checking that one of her eyes was now a fiery red, and the fiery scar was now over one of her eyes. Zac confirmed it, amazed that it actually worked.

Lucy at that moment, began to stir, the effects of the transfer dispelling the Anthranox and waking her up. Not only did the soul transfer give her magic to Evie, but it also brought back some of her memories.

"Evie?" She asked as she looked up to the girl sitting in front of her.

"Mother?" Evie replied, tears being brought to her eyes. Zac let go of her shoulders so that she could launch into a hug with her.

"Evie my dear. At last I get to see you all grown up!" Lucy exclaimed. It was only until she got a good look at Evie's face that she realised what had happened. Suppressed memories of when Lucien and Rick drugged her came flooding back in, realising that she was only getting these memories because of the Soul Switch Evie performed on them. "You, you have a world to go and save my child. Make your mother proud, and don't make me regret giving you my powers." Lucy then fell back to sleep, Evie suddenly realising that the sudden Soul Switch only suppressed the drug for a short moment.

As happy as she was to have her mother remember her, there were slightly more important matters at hand.

Everyone in the room grabbed one of the mermaids as well as David, and prepared themselves to jump out of the tower from the hole Lucien so kindly made when someone burst open the door that Ivan had closed.

"Wait!" Nick screamed as he burst open the door, not all too shocked at the sight before him.

"Nicholas?" Both Bill and Ivan questioned as they looked at the all too familiar face.

"Nick?" Zac and Evie questioned as they looked at their neighbourhood friendly lifeguard.

"No time to explain what I'm doing here, it's time we got you lot to Olcutus." Nick then proceeded by jumping out of the hole in tower shouting "come on," as he hit the water.

Even though the pair of four were really confused about what Nick was doing here, they just had to trust him. They all jumped out of the tower, and left the mermaids and David as close the shore as they could, their tails still in the water.

With them now surely safe, oh boy did Zac have some questions for Nick.

"Who exactly are you"? Zac asked, slightly afraid of him.

Nick sighed. "My real name is Nicholas, I'm a member of the IMH, one of the 100 who were implanted with Hyperos Crystals in their hearts, a lot like Ivan and Bill. I've been living out my life in Australia, stopping all of my activities as an IMH member and dedicating my life to Lifesaving. I never would have guessed at the time when you saved that little girl, that you'd become a merman Zac. I suspected you were no longer human, but I didn't expect this of all things.

"And I never expected you to have been alive for over 1000 years," Zac retaliated. "Also, can someone here please explain the tails?"

"But of course," Ivan spoke up. "The reason we have tails is because the Hyperos Magic granted us them. Unlike normal merpeople, we can transform as freely as we want to. It's one of the original reasons why we were shunned away all those years ago."

Zac could see the pain in Ivan's eyes as he spoke about not being accepted and tried to get them off of this topic. "That explained, how do we get back?"

Ivan and Bill turned to Nick. "You still know how to recreate the passage ways right?" Bill asked.

"Of course," Nick replied.

"Then you can make us one leading to the shore of Olcultus?" Ivan lead on.

"No, I can't take us that far, I don't know quite how to create the passage. What I can do, is take us back to the Gold Coast and find a way to destroy the barrier surrounding the Ocean."

"There's a barrier surrounding it?" Zac and Evie asked confused.

"Let's just focus on getting back first," Nick ordered as he dove under the water, everyone else following him.

Much like when Lucien created the way to Olcultus, Nick swiped his right arm in front of him and shouted, "Gold Coast!" Seconds later, the passage way that they'd come through before appeared before them, disappearing once the last member of the group had gone through. Instead of ending up in the IMH base though, they ended up right outside of it, the passage way hole appearing in the sand.

Once everyone got out and dried themselves back to their human forms, Nick place his hand on the barrier that was still in place, several waves of faint purple light shooting across it.

Evie touched it for herself, though when she touched it, it turned Red. "So we can't get into the Ocean with this being here right?"

"Yep, we need to find a way to destroy it, ordinary magic isn't going to break it down," Nick briefly explained.

Just as an idea came to Bill's mind, they could all hear a voice shouting.

"Nick!"

"Oh no, John." Nick suddenly remembered that he'd told John that he would explain everything in a bit, but he didn't expect John to come and find him himself.

"God I've been looking all over for you, where di-" John would have finished his sentence, until he noticed that Zac, and the two girls from the Exposure a few days ago were standing with Nick.

John covered his mouth, staring head on at Zac. He remembered what happened that day on TV, and also pieced together the explanation of Evie and Sarah. They had eyes just like Elicia and Marina, they must have been mermaids as well. The other girl with them must have been as well.

"So, it's real huh? That whole thing with those mermaid hunters, you really are a merman aren't you?" John asked after removing his hands from his mouth and calming down.

Zac looked away for a second before turning back to look at John, simply replying, "yes."

"And you five," he stated looking at all the girls, "you're all mermaids?"

They all simply nodded, trying not to make too much eye contact with the boy.

"Nick, you promised me you'd tell me what's going on. The whole truth." John glared at Nick, directly into his eyes. There was no escaping it, Nick had to explain what was going on.

"If we don't break this barrier and make it out to where Mako Island was, the world as we know it could end. Two men plan to use the power of an ancient spirit to destroy all the magic in this world that controls the Oceans, and the world will be put eternally underwater," Nick explained, finding it rather difficult to focus when John looked so shocked of everything he was learning.

"And what about you? What part do you play in all of this?" John asked. Nick turned away from him, refusing to answer. "Why won't you answer me?"

He was about to turn Nick around to face him when Ivan grabbed his arm and pulled the boy in front of him.

"Listen here kid. Me, Bill and Nick have been through more torment than these guys ever have. Do you know how long we've been alive for? 1060 damn long years! We've been forced to live this long because of a crystal implanted in our hearts, and the only way we can die is if someone else in the IMH kills us. We've spent hundreds of years trying to get revenge on mermaids and now look where it's landed us! The world is going to be destroyed and we are the only ones who can put it right!"

If John seemed frightened before, he was even more scared now. "Is it true, Nick?"

He refused to answer for a moment, but decided to in the end. "Yes, I've been alive like them for 1060 years, and yes, I did at first, kill mermaids. But, once I learnt of what two people in our group were truly after, I only focused on how to stop them, and I failed. We have to destroy this damn barrier so that we can go and stop those two idiots from killing us all!"

John actually lightened up for a second. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Nick turned around to face him at long last. He'd always treated John like the son he'd never had. He walked over to him and placed his hands on his shoulders. "I want you to stay here, and wait for us to return. Act as our beacon."

John didn't quite know what to say to that. All Nick wanted him to do was to wait. "Alright. I'll stand here and wait. But in all seriousness, how are you going to break the barrier?"

Zac thought back to what Bill and Ivan had said to him about Overdrive and how it could break Hyperos Magic. He slowly walked over to the barrier, and as he placed his hand upon it, a bright white glow ran across the barrier, shattering it, everyone now feeling the full force of the choppy Ocean waves.

"Well," Nick said a little stunned, "that uh- that takes care of that. So, does anyone propose how we get across without risking our lives swimming?"

Sarah was the first to speak up. But when I say speak up, she didn't really. She just used her Air Magic to lift everyone into the air, the same sort of swirling air around everyone's feet. "Easy way really, we fly," she smiled.

Nick was a little sceptical at first about Sarah's powers, but once he focused on moving forward a little, he saw that it was rather easy and perfectly safe.

"John, make sure you stay here, no matter what happens!" Nick called as he began heading out to Olcultus with everyone else.

"I will!" He shouted back, watching as everyone flew out towards where Mako Island once stood. As he watched them go, a tear was brought to his eye. "Just come back safely."

* * *

**Karen: I think it's safe to end it here. If anyone is confused, Mako Island went bye bye, Rick and Lucien want to destroy the world using the powers of Eradia now that she's locked up in her shell, with a new prophecy that could lead to the end of the world, which is what Rick and Lucien wanted since day 1 all those years ago. To clarify, David is dead, no-one else is, they're just completely out of power. **

**I hope the next chapter will make a little more sense than this one. The only reason I brought Nick into the story was because of the slight involvement he had in Chapter 1 of the first story, sort of tying in his previous thoughts and it also gave side character John a reason for being alive. I need happy endings all round here people!**

**Zac: Just leave her to rant and we'll see you all in Chapter 9, where we'll be kicking some serious ass.**

**Karen: You were suppose to let me say that!**


End file.
